When 100 Days in Appalachia was launched in 2016 as a pop-up project to chronicle the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s first term, it was partly in response to the curious gaze of national media and non-Appalachians, peering at our region and wondering what they had missed. What did so-called “Trump Country” look like, and why did the candidate appeal so deeply to many in Appalachia? The newsroom’s mission was to explain how Appalachia’s story is America’s story — and while this region, in all its complexity from the Black Belt in Alabama to the Rust Belt of Ohio and Pennsylvania, has a distinct and special culture and history — the joys, worries and issues here are mirrored in small towns and suburbs across the country.
“While the world is busy asking what the election tells us about our divided nation, we’re asking: What does Appalachia tell us?” wrote founder Dana Coester in the post that introduced 100 Days.
Eight years later, so much and so little has changed. And once again, Appalachia continues to be a bellwether for the rest of the country — the metaphorical canary in the coal mine — as we navigate an era of disruption and upheaval.
100 Days in Appalachia continues to tell the stories of our region, with an eye toward deeply-reported modern-day stories of Appalachia’s challenges and triumphs. And if you’re a writer or journalist in the region, we want to hear from you.
Here’s what we’re looking for.
Generation Zeitgeist
Generation Zeitgeist is a 100 Days in Appalachia initiative to highlight and publish the work of young Appalachians. Why? We know young Appalachians are thinking critically about, covering and telling important stories about the region. We know they have unique insight into everything from policies and issues impacting their generation to community-building, problem-solving, and trends that shape how we live, work and engage. We believe young journalists, creators and young people in general should be paid for their work and have sustainable platforms to house what they create.
Young people are often talked about and talked to, especially in media and politics. In this section, young people are leading the conversation. They’re identifying the issues that matter most on their terms, impacting themselves and their region. They’re sharing personal stories that will challenge you to reconsider stereotypes and assumptions. They’re using incisive reporting and thoughtful storytelling to capture all that Appalachia is, and all it can be.
In some cases they’re filling critical gaps in journalism access, like the student journalists we worked with on election night told us.
“Community members really do read our content and are responsible for the majority of the pick-up rates of our print paper. We are the ones responsible for making the information digestible and interesting to readers, and we take that responsibility seriously.”
In other cases, young people are helping combat disinformation and misinformation; as many in this generation seek news and information via social media, they know this landscape first hand. This is another reason it is critical to center them in how the region is covered.
Who and what we publish
Generation Zeitgeist publishes the work of young people in Appalachia, roughly ages 13-25. We have worked with student journalists and freelancers as well as individuals publishing for the first time.
What all the stories in our section have in common is that young people are at the center — how a policy impacts them, how an issue is changing how they live and work, or the experiences they’re having in Appalachia. We’re looking for:
- Reporting that interviews sources, tells a story, or investigates an issue.
- Op-eds and essays that make a timely argument, have a narrative arc, or use the writer’s experience to tell a bigger story related to the region.
- Photojournalism, comics journalism, and your other big ideas: we want to support you as you tell impactful stories across mediums.
Generally, stories in Generation Zeitgeist fall into two broad buckets:
POLITICS: We’re interested in covering how politics and political issues shape the lives of young people throughout the region, and we think of “politics” as a broad category. That might include stories related to:
- Climate crises
- Gun violence
- Work and labor
- Education
- Civic engagement (Volunteering, voting, serving community)
- Protesting and organizing
- Mutual aid and community organizing
- Trends in culture, regional music, art and fashion
- How technology, social media and life online intersects with all the above
We also look for work that helps distill or explain a trend or feeling related to any of the above — for example, we’ve published pieces on young Appalachians seeking better intergenerational political conversations, why some young voters felt apathetic about the 2024 presidential election, and the issues on the minds of young West Virginians before they voted.
LIFE & IDENTITY: We’re interested in the lived experiences of young people in Appalachia — their realities, their curiosities, and the content they consume. That includes stories related to identity, mental and physical well-being, community building, and more. We’ve published reporting on how the COVID pandemic strained mental health services on campus, an essay exploring what home and identity mean to a writer who identifies as South Asian and Southern American, and a photo series focused on trans and queer Appalachians through the symbolism of Christianity. We’re always looking for pieces that highlight personal issues, introduce us to interesting subcultures or groups, explain a trend, or illuminate part of an experience rural youth are having.
All pieces go through multiple rounds of edits and fact-checking.
Some stories we’d love to see
- Work and labor issues impacting young workers: work conditions, any struggles to find jobs, strikes, campus labor, etc.
- How and whether young people are engaging in local politics, including voting (or not voting), other political activity, protests, or organizing.
- How and whether young people are expressing religion and faith.
- Appalachian “third spaces” and community infrastructure, such as libraries as community spaces, closures/lack of access, etc. — other place-based, creative community building offline.
- Coverage of Appalachian artists, content creators, musicians and writers
- Reporting on unique subcultures or groups within the region, particularly those with a community element.
- Social media and life online: trends, memes, lack of access, etc.
Religion
From the start, 100 Days has sought to show the breadth of religious diversity in Appalachia. One of the first stories we published was “Muslim In Appalachia,” a series that explored “what it means to navigate both Muslim and Appalachian identity, while challenging the stereotypes of both.”
That project mirrored a fundamental goal of our newsroom: to show what national media outlets and people from outside the region have been missing. Eight years later, that mission remains. And for the religion section, it means telling stories about the richness and depth of religious experience and how it shows up in the lives of Appalachia’s people.
It also means looking beyond polls on worship service attendance. Though these have trended downward for years, declining church attendance hasn’t corresponded with a decline in religion’s influence in our culture and politics. The end of federal abortion rights and the rise of Christian nationalism have certainly proven that.
And Appalachia has a history of progressive religious resistance too. For decades, the Commission on Religion in Appalachia (CORA) worked to advance labor and civil rights and environmental justice throughout the region.
It’s just one example of how faith communities — in all their richness and complexity — are embedded in our lives. Ultimately, the depth and breadth of religion as human experience is not just part of the story of the region, it plays a major role in the story of our country. We want our stories to shine a light on those connections.
Who and what we publish
Specifically, if you are Appalachian and a person of faith or have an interest in religion, we would love to hear your pitches around the following questions:
How do Appalachian identity and religious identity relate to one another, and what does that look like in everyday life?
How do politics, culture, and religion intersect in the region and what internal and external forces are driving these aspects of society together?
What specific policies are being put forward/sponsored by faith leaders/religious groups and what are their implications for the daily lives of Appalachians, especially marginalized communities? Is there faith-based opposition to policies supported by other faith groups, and what does that look like?
What can we learn from the historic role faith communities have played in Appalachia as a region? How can that history inform us moving forward?
Or, let us know if you have a pitch that doesn’t address one of these questions. But no matter what, religion should be a central tenet of any pitch submitted to this vertical. We’re open to reported pieces, as well as op-eds and essays that use personal experience with religion to shine a light on a broader regional issue or make an argument. We’re also interested in photo essays and visual journalism.
Special Series
We’re seeking pitches to contribute to this major multimedia work, which will include reporting, investigative work, essays, short documentaries, photography and other creative works to comprise this series:
The New Rural Landscape
Far from the pastoral pictures painted by reductive coastal narratives, Appalachia’s rural landscape is changing. This eclectic series will show how historical extractive industries are being replaced with new forms — the sprawling Amazon warehouses, the influx of data centers and bitcoin mining farms on former coal mountain tops — as well as pick apart the perception held by billionaires that rural places are desirable future settlements to escape climate crises, pandemics and civil unrest. Meanwhile, we examine how the tech exploitation of isolated rural young people is another form of extraction from this region — in which a generation experiences polycrises of poverty, trauma, opioid-damaged families/communities, decay of local infrastructure and the the emergent role of the gig economy in rural spaces once known for labor power. This series is imaginative and complex and rooted in all the diverse ways economic, technological, cultural, political and economic disruption changes our rural spaces. We invite your creative perspectives, stories and visuals in developing this work.
Some topics we’re interested in:
● Data centers and bitcoin mining farms
● Transition of labor power to gig worker economies
● “Future of work” in Appalachia in the face of AI and automation displacement
● History of bridging the so-called “digital divide” in rural Appalachia.
● Billionaires and foreign interests buying up land in Appalachia.
● “Heading for the hills” — other individuals and communities seeking refuge from climate crises, pandemics, and civil unrest.
● Role of religion/dominionism in relation to the land
● So many others! We are really open to interesting and unique pitches that help to comprise a sweeping series that is tied together by notions and interpretation of the new rural landscape.
Everything Else
If you’re a writer in Appalachia who has ideas that don’t fit neatly into the above verticals or series, we still want to hear from you. We’re interested in pitches for deeply reported pieces that tackle some aspect of the following questions:
- What are the cultural and community threads pulling people together in Appalachia — and when they fray, what are the consequences for community and civic life?
- As crises including drug overdoses and a high rate of kids in state custody continue, what are the long-term effects on this generation of Appalachian youth?
- What does the new landscape of resource extraction look like in Appalachia, as coal production continues to decline and fulfillment warehouses and data centers proliferate?
- How are extremists — both political and religious — gaining ground in the region, and what are the consequences for marginalized communities?
- How do Appalachians see their Appalachian identity, and how does it manifest itself in their lives?
How to Pitch
You can find a link to our pitch form here. Tell us about the story you’re hoping to tell, what makes it a good fit for 100 Days, and why you’re the right person to write/film/draw it. (This might be because of previous reporting you’ve done or sources you have, or because you have unique experience to share!) You do not need to submit a full draft. For accepted pitches, we’ll work with you to find the right word count and deadline.
A few questions to ask yourself as you draft your pitch:
- Is the angle specific? Try to get more specific than a topic and hone in on what your angle is. To use an example, “mental health in Appalachia” is a broad topic — it’s important, but what’s the story? “How young people in Appalachia are fighting for better mental health resources” would be an angle. It shows us there is a narrative at the center of the story.
- What beat are you pitching? If you have one in mind, let us know what it is so we can get it to the right editor. If you don’t know, that’s OK, too.
- Can I source this? Think about who you’ll want to talk to for your piece. Can you get in touch with those people? Thinking through perspectives you want to include and how you’ll reach out to them helps sharpen your pitch.
- Does it connect to Appalachia? Does the story take place in the region? Is part of Appalachia being impacted by the issue you’re covering? Think through how the story tells us something about the region.
Need help finding an idea? Read widely! Ask yourself: What stories about Appalachia do you wish were being told? What’s happening in your community? What are your friends talking about?
Rates
All contributors are compensated for their work. Rates are dependent on budget, as well as dependent on the the scope of work of the story. Typically, our rates begin around $50-$100 for opinion pieces, and are higher for reporting and multimedia works. Your editor will confirm your rate with you before you start writing, and we welcome any questions from writers and mediamakers about this.
