Written content guide and requirements for organisation contributors

Thank you for creating content for the Baptist NZ platform. We are glad to be able to share stories, news, information, education and inspiration with our team of 40,000 Baptists in New Zealand.

When submitting written content to us, would you please include the following – either by downloading this form (it’s a Microsoft Word .docx file to fill in and save), or copying the table at the end into your own document:

Title
Along with the image, the headline is your opportunity to draw people to click on your content. Keep the team of 40,000 Baptists in mind. Try for something catchy that covers the theme of your piece. No pressure! More than 75 characters is probably too long.

Author
First name and last name.
If more than one author, e.g.: Sarah Smith and Elton Carr
No titles. E.g.: Dr, Prof, Rev

Article type
Choose one of the following:

  • News
  • Opinion
  • Education
  • Stories
  • Events
  • Articles
  • Reviews

Publish date
Either define a preferred publish date, embargo, or leave unspecified. We can also add historical dates which situates the content in the past.

Has this been published anywhere else?
If this is being reproduced with your permission, clarify the previous publication details. E.g.: This article was first published in the Baptist Children and Family eConnect newsletter on 4 June 2022 and is reproduced with permission.

Location
Some of our audience have geographically defined preferences. We have included six default locations named after the six Regional Baptist Associations in New Zealand to allow readers to only get notifications for content within these regions. Other locations, e.g., Bangladesh, can be entered, or leave this field blank if there is no location significance. Do not use town or city names, but rather the geographic region:

  • Northern
  • Waikato
  • Bay of Plenty / East
  • Lower North
  • Upper South
  • Otago / Southland

Categories
Choose one of these categories that fall within the Baptist Churches of New Zealand ‘Thriving Faith Communities’ framework. Leaving this blank will limit possible search results:

  1. Robust Leadership (content about investing in the development of our leaders, current and emerging)
  2. Growing Disciples (content about people growing deeper in their love for God and their neighbours)
  3. Authentic Worship (content about how the Bible might become more central in our priorities and decision making)
  4. Healthy Resources (content about how to be good stewards of the resources we have been given)
  5. Effective Mission (content that shows how when the above four areas come together, we are effective in our mission)

Sub-categories
Ideally use an existing sub-category. If none suit, suggest something new:

  • COVID-19
  • Women
  • Sunday Services
  • Neighbourhood
  • Culture
  • Promotion
  • Local Church
  • Governance
  • Finance
  • Overseas
  • Partners
  • Cults
  • Book
  • Politics
  • Church leaders
  • Community
  • Creative
  • Tips
  • Prayer
  • Preaching
  • Global mission
  • Children and Families
  • Chaplaincy
  • Youth & Young Adults
  • Spiritual Growth
  • Justice
  • evangelism

Tags
Is there a term or name that may aid a search engine in finding this article? E.g., Carey Baptist College, NZBMS…

Focus key words
Is there a term or name that may aid a search engine in finding this article? E.g., listening, Matariki… [Focus key words may be used in future development]

Short description
Use up to 350 characters to capture the piece and encourage readers to click on the whole article. This caption is what some social media shares will use by default. The Baptist.nz website will also draw from this description for the content carousels.

Google description
This can be a duplicate of the Short Description and will appear in google searches.

Image requirements

  • One image is required for every written piece (1280 x 720 pixels, landscape orientation).
  • You must provide photo credit and show permission to use this image on the Baptist NZ platform. E.g., photo supplied and used with permission by Carey Baptist College. If the image comes from any stock image library, proper citation needs to be provided, including a link to the source. We do not accept randomly found images from the internet.
  • Our recommendation is a real image representing something of your content or the people in the story. Think ‘community newspaper’ rather than ‘coffee table book’.
  • No branding, logos, or text on the images. Due to the ‘responsive’ nature and variety of devices Baptist NZ is viewed on, the image can be cropped beyond our control. Featured articles will have the heading overlaying the image, which could cause visual clutter if logos and other branding are used.
  • Ideally, keep any important aspects of the image away from the edges, so they don’t get cropped off through the result of ‘responsive’ presentation. Imagine a 100-pixel zone around the edge to keep clear of people’s faces.

See image layout examples below:

 

 

 

Baptist NZ article requirements
Please fill out this table and provide with every article submitted for the Baptist NZ platform. Download table here.

Title Up to 75 characters
Author First-name Last-name
Article type
Publish date
Published elsewhere?
Location Other:
Category
Sub-category New:
Tags
Focus key words
Short description
Google description
Image credit