Contribute
Hello there
Have a read of this before submitting any ideas to BASE. We get a ton of submissions and only those that have shown a clear understanding of these guidelines will be considered.
We promise to get back to everyone who writes to us as soon as we possibly can.
Firstly read The BASE Story to get a feel for where we’re coming from.
What kind of ideas BASE is looking for
We’ll cover stories featuring the full spectrum of adventure activities, adventure sports and adventure travel.
We particularly look for a blend of original adventures in faraway lands (we’re in the UK) and those closer to home too.
We love stories putting an unusual or original twist on established adventure activities, characters and journey narratives. A new adventure activity? A unique take on well-known routes? A deeply personal motivation? An incredible individual? That sort of thing floats our boat.
We also love stories that work in helpful elements for our audience. Useful insights and tips, stuff that only someone who had experienced that adventure would know.
Accessibility is critical for us. Some stories we publish are designed to be dream fuel but a good deal must be achievable. (We’re not all sponsored semi-professionals who get paid to go to exotic places are we?).
Our contributors and their stories should show an empathy for the barriers we all face when wanting to be adventure-active. (You know, the usual – money, day jobs, family commitments, pandemics etc).
Our readers are a diverse bunch, too, and we aim to make sure they are represented.
All this is not to say that we don’t feature stories from elite adventurers. We do. They do amazing things and tell amazing stories and that’s an important part of the mix.
Writing and visual style
You should familiarise yourself with our previous issues and features on our website.
We want to showcase a variety of writing styles but the stories must be exciting, creatively conceived and written in an accessible way.
A successful feature will not be a disguised list of events or be too strong on technical detail or language.
Inspire, entertain, enable: that’s our BASE mantra.
Word counts
In print: articles of about 1500-2000 words but always happy to look at longer and shorter pieces too.
Online: articles of about 800 – 2500 words are the norm
How to submit your idea
Start with a one-paragraph proposal outlining the story.
It helps to include the proposed first paragraph to help spark the imagination.
Include any top level key technical and geographical information that helps pinpoint the story.
Include a short outline of who you are, any relevant experience you have, with links to/cuttings from previously published stories.
Submissions must be in English and unpublished elsewhere.
Please email your proposal or idea to [email protected]
If published online or in print we re-use and re-purpose elements only across our owned channels, crediting wherever possible and practical.
Supporting your idea with imagery, audio and video
We won’t run any print story without photography.
The photography should of course bring the story to life. Action shots, emotive expressions, landscapes. There should be a nice mix of portrait and landscape orientations.
You should also consider that our best stories run across our website, magazine and social channels.
A successful online feature uses more imagery, video and even audio clips to enrich it.
The stories that will work best across BASE will therefore provide a mix of copy, and imagery and sometimes video and audio clips.
Imagery
Do include 5 low-resolution images to give a flavour of your adventure (if emailing, your whole message should not be larger than 2MB).
Do consider a mix of portrait and landscape formats. Portrait imagery helps the story work much better on social media platforms (which the vast majority of people access using their mobiles).
Image formats we like: .jpgs, .pngs
Video
It helps to submit any short video clips (max 30 secs) that you might have. These don’t need to be Oscar-worthy at all but they can help bring elements of your story to life. We’ll use these if we can on our social channels (primarily Instagram) and possibly on our site too.
Don’t send video clips via email. Send a couple (if you have them) via WeTransfer labeling your story in the message field.
Video formats we like: .Mp4s
- For vertical video (9:16) the optimal resolution size is 1080 x 1920
- For horizontal video (16:9), the ideal size is 1920 x 1080
- Frame rate: 30 frames per second
- Maximum file size: 4GB
Audio
Just include a couple of audio files in your WeTransfer package if you have them. Don’t worry if you don’t. Maybe next time! We’re not looking for podcast-length clips but shorter ones that give flavour to the story or help bring the location to life.
Audio formats we like: .Mp4s and .wav
