Writer's Guidelines

5280 is the premiere monthly guide to the arts, entertainment, dining, and lifestyle issues in Denver. First published in 1993, the magazine has a circulation of 85,000 and is consistently among the top-selling magazines on metro newsstands. Many of our stories are written by 5280 staffers and a group of established freelance writers, but we welcome ideas from journalists we haven't worked with in the past.

Story pitches should convey that the writer understands the editorial thrust of the magazine and should be well researched, concise, and offer a creative and original argument.

We accept pitches for our front-of-the-book sections, Front Range and Scene; for our "departments;" for our feature well; and for our back-of-the-book section, Eat & Drink. Front-of-the-book and back-of-the-book stories, which are short, lively takes on life in Denver, run anywhere from 50 to 400 words. Departments are generally 800 to 1,200 words and cover everything from travel to sports to politics. Features can run up to 6,000 words.

Please submit queries, along with two or three published writing samples, via e-mail to one of our staff editors.