How to submit letters to the Times
Letters to the Times (like letters to the editor, but our way) are welcome and encouraged.
Here are the basic guidelines:
• Keep it short and sweet.
• Focus on Lawrence and Douglas County issues.
• Link to sources if needed to support facts and stats.
Longer version:
We will publish letters that focus on Lawrence and Douglas County topics as opposed to federal, national or international issues. Publications everywhere cover those topics and would likely be glad to consider publishing your letter. Our resources are devoted to our local coverage area. (Hint: If you’ve seen an article in the Times about your topic, that’s a good indication that your letter would fit within our guidelines.)
Letters from folks who live in the Lawrence-Douglas County area will be given preference for publication, but we know there are people all over the world who care about this community, and we’re glad to hear from them, too. We do not run anonymous letters or letters submitted under pseudonyms.
We might make edits for grammar, spelling and style, but we will not make changes that alter the meaning of the letter. We may decline letters that we deem unfit to publish.
We want to encourage healthy civil discourse. Although we value the opinions of community members, we want to ensure that this platform is shared among a variety of diverse voices and perspectives; therefore, we may limit the number of letters we publish on a regular basis from very prolific writers.
We would recommend that letters to the Times be no longer than 500 words. That’s not a hard rule, but shorter letters are more likely to be posted, published in a timely manner and read by our readers. (Click here for a tool to see how long your draft is.)
If your letter contains a good deal of research, please include your sources (in the form of links to online sources). We appreciate work that is well researched, but we have a limited staff available to do our due diligence in fact-checking; having sources readily available will expedite publishing.
If that all sounds good …
To submit your letter, please email Letters@LawrenceKSTimes.com (don’t forget the KS!), and include:
• Your full name
• Your pronouns
• Your city of residence
• A title or affiliation, if you’d like.
We will not publish your contact information. Please send letters in the body of an email or in an editable document (such as a Google Doc) rather than as a PDF.
If you don’t receive a response within a few days, please try emailing again, or reach out via our contact form to make sure we received your letter.
Interested in writing a column for the Times?
Fantastic! The guidelines above also apply to regular columns and guest columns. We’ll want to run your photo and a brief author bio, as you can see from the other columns in our Community Voices section.
We ask that pieces have a direct tie to Lawrence and/or Douglas County, and/or offer a unique perspective or personal experience of life here.
We also offer some space for area organizations and organizers to express their views, provide updates and attempt to reach other folks who might share their mission in our Org Corner section.
Look over the info above and send them our way: Letters@LawrenceKSTimes.com
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More Community Voices:
Letter to the Times: Planning Commission should deny 3rd and Michigan upzoning request
“Please encourage the development interests — public and private — to engage the neighborhood so that the results reflect sensible density that adds value for all concerned,” Phil and Peggi Englehart write in this open letter to the Planning Commission.
Tom Harper/Lawrence Times
Tom Harper: Son of longtime Liberty Hall owners aims to preserve something ‘beneficial for everyone’ (Column)
Josh Millstein is stepping up to keep Liberty Hall alive and well, aiming to preserve his father’s vision and an iconic piece of downtown Lawrence’s historic district, Tom Harper writes in this column.
Housing advocates and organizers: Lawrence should say no to occupancy restrictions (Column)
“We see daily how families of all kinds — blood-related or chosen — pool groceries, bills and child care to keep one another safe. Occupancy caps effectively criminalize mutual aid, making it harder for people to meet basic needs,” four local housing advocates write in this column.
Letter to the Times: Occupancy limits are unfair to nontraditional families
“Why should the rest of us have to live with increased housing costs because adults who chose not only to live in a college town, but next to the campus itself, don’t want an increase of students living in the neighborhood?” Chris Flowers writes in this letter to the Times.
