Getting Started on the Innostation Publication
Scroll to the bottom for writer application!
Table of contents:
- What is Innostation?
- Why a publication?
- Benefits of Writing for the Publication
- Publication Guidelines: Article Topic Guidelines
- Publication Guidelines: Writer Requirements
- Publication Guidelines: Submitting Articles
- Publication Guidelines: Tags
- Getting Started on the Publication
- Getting Involved in Innostation
- Application Form
What is Innostation?
Innostation is a community that aims to help students create a positive impact while addressing the scarcity of volunteering opportunities by creating meaningful initiatives for students to take part in.
Why a Publication?
Building a strong community for students to express their ideas and thoughts for other students to learn about sits at the core of Innostation values.
Allowing students to express themselves through writing is a great start towards that, which is why our team decided to start a publication.
Not only will students’ contributions to the publication build out a strong community, but it will also be a path to open up many more opportunities to come for our writers on top of a strong writing portfolio.
Benefits of Writing for the Publication
Innostation writers are able to earn volunteer hours for articles they publish, along with Innostation points — our organization’s point system that unlocks various opportunities within our community (access to exclusive events, higher priority for certain volunteering opportunities, …)
Writers can earn 1 hour of volunteering for every 2-minute-read worth of writing, along with 2 Innostation points for every hour of volunteering and extra points for specific topic and articles with outstanding performances. Articles also get promoted on Innostation’s Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Publication Guidelines: Article Topic Guidelines
The publication is directed at middle and high school students. As such, students are welcome to write about any topic that would be relevant to our audience.
Please ensure that your articles respect the following guidelines nonetheless:
- No 18+ content, indecent images. Content MUST be relevant to middle and high school students.
- Avoid content promoting racism, discrimination, hate, self-harm, suicidal thoughts…
- All articles must be in English (Innostation divisions in other languages might be coming soom, stay tuned 👀!)
- Articles containing unsupported claim and false information will not be published. Misinformation does NOT align with our values.
- Please avoid plagiarizing off another writer’s work. Any violated intellectual property rights will result in all writer’s articles being taken down by our editors.
- Kindly avoid going into very technical topics: Your articles can still be technical; however, it needs to be somewhat understandable for our audience in order to keep articles relevant to our audience..
There is no limitation on length for articles. However, keeping articles to a certain range in length makes them eligible for the Innostation journal (a monthly journal compiling the best articles from the publication, selected by the publication editors based on relevance to the monthly theme and performance).
Publication Guidelines: Writer Requirements
All middle school, high school and gap year students are welcome to write for the Innostation Publication (application form at the botton).
There is no required time commitment. Writers write at their own pace. However, writers must publish at least 1 article every 6 months to maintain active writer status within the organization.
Publication Guidelines: Submitting Articles
Once your writer application has been approved (our team will email you about your application), you will be able to submit articles to the publication through Medium.
Note that all articles MUST be submitted through Medium.
Our editors will review your article within 72 hours of submissions. If the articles conforms to all guidelines, they will either publish it or leave comments for improvement.
Note that all comments and edit suggestions are optional and you can still publish your articles without taking them into consideration. However, we’re trying to build a strong community at Innostation and receiving feedback to improve upon our work is core value at the organization.
For instructions on how to submit an article to a Medium publication, check out this Medium guide.
Publication Guidelines: Tags
For your article to show up on the publication’s main page, you MUST use one of the following tags:
- Global Issues
- Arts and Culture
- STEM
- Lifestyle
- Miscellaneous
Not sure how to use tags? Check out this Medium Guide!
Not sure what category your article falls into? Our team has put together a guide for you, feel free to check it out!
Getting Started on the Publication
In order to be able to publish articles on Innostation, you MUST apply and be approved as a writer (refer to writer requirements for details on eligibility).
Once approved, you can submit articles for publication.
You can also join our Discord community to check-out updates and opportunities and connect with other writes.
Once your article is published, email innostationorg@gmail.com to receive your Innostation points and volunteer hours.
Afterwards, our team will award more Innostation points based on your article’s performance. We will contact you if the article is featured within the organization. Our team will also contact you if there are any opportunities that would be suitable to you based on your article’s topic.
Getting Involved in Innostation
Innostation is not only a publication — much more than that.
As we launch new projects, there will be more opportunities to get involved within the organization.
We love to personalize opportunities, so our team may reach out to set up special opportunities for individual active members — for example regular columns, media features, speaking opportunities…
If you have any suggestions for a project you would like to work on as part of Innostation, send us an email at innostationorg@gmail.com!
