Chapter 55

Interview with GFM + resource list of digital media platforms.

Dear gentle reader,

Welcome to the hottest month of the year! Anyone else using the heat as an excuse to stay away from those looming deadlines? No…it’s just me then?

This has been a hectic month that seems to have disappeared in the blink of an eye. Work has been relentless and I am looking forward to a break next month. On a related topic, how does one say ‘no’ to work? I’ve been through many dry patches in this freelancing journey. I fear saying no — even when I am overwhelmed — will either ruin my relationship with the editor/ publication or result in another dry spell. Any advice would be appreciated.

If you have deadlines and are struggling to write, a thought:

This month’s newsletter has a quick interview with Good Food Movement, some pitch calls and writing opportunities.

Ready? Let’s begin.

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THE INTERVIEW

This month’s interview is with Nevin Thomas of Good Food Movement, the portal by Akshayakalpa Organic.

Nevin Thomas is a multimedia producer and content strategist with a background in journalism. He started his career as a writer at The Hindu and slowly shifted to film-making. He was an active freelancer in the COVID-period; and specialises in brand building and intersectional storytelling. Nevin currently heads the Good Food Movement (GFM) team at Akshayakalpa Organic. He was the first employee of GFM, and his duty is to grow GFM’s profile as a thought leader in this sector. Last year, the team was joined by Neerja Deodhar, a feature writer and educator based in Mumbai. As the editorial lead for our website, she helps writers to expand on their pitches and reporting, and oversees edits.

Excerpts from an interview.

1. Tell us a bit about GFM, what is the publication aiming to achieve and what does it offer to the reader?

Right from its inception, Good Food Movement has prioritised raising awareness among Indian consumers about what they eat, where this food comes from, who grows it, and where it ends up—after the scraps and waste leave our kitchens. To this end, we cover a variety of perspectives from across India:

• A farmer-first approach to the challenges of agriculture

• Successful case studies and profiles of farmers who are pioneers

• Techniques and practices that have transformed entire villages and districts

• Long and short features focused on individual crops, grains, or even fish—how they defined our diets and moulded ecosystems, if they are threatened by climate change, if farmers are switching from growing them to other crops

• Health concerns, and specifically, antimicrobial resistance

• Nutrition and food science, especially myth busting and making complex logic easy to understand

• Climate and ecosystems

Aside from video essays, feature articles and photo stories, we also publish explainers that simplify technical terms and trends that the reader must know about, to be more tuned into the larger story of Indian agriculture.

2. Do you commission or prefer being pitched?

Good Food Movement is open to pitches across all verticals. Aside from our hallmark stories, we’re also accepting ideas for an upcoming series on freshwater and access to it. Details about the series can be found here.

Our style of functioning is a mix of commissioning to writers and receiving pitches from them. If you don’t have an idea just yet, but have a demonstrated ability to report and write about the agriculture, environment and food beats, write to us at gfm@akshayakalpa.org with a bio and samples of published work.

We pay at a sliding scale that begins at Rs 8,000. The fee per article is determined by the writer’s experience and the scope of the article in question. We also offer a slim travel allowance to reporters whose work requires them to travel beyond their place of stay.

3. What are the kinds of pitches that interest you (also add what not to pitch about...)? What are the hallmarks of a good pitch to you?

We are particularly drawn to ideas from writers who are dot-connectors: those who observe the crisis one fruit finds itself in, and ask questions about how this affects the farmers who grow it, and how it will drastically change the way agriculture is practiced in entire districts. We also value those who ably find the right experts to interview, and add necessary data and statistics where they are needed. With pitches about initiatives/NGOs/foundations, we single out those that centre the voices of beneficiaries rather than founders.

Good Food Movement is a young publication that prioritises original reporting. We steer clear of subjects which have already been covered by other news outlets. Should a writer pitch an article about a known issue [women’s unacknowledged labour in agriculture] or trend [mindful eating], they must bring forward something new or unknown, to nudge the reader to think differently. While we do publish profiles of farmers, ideas about brands, new product offerings, restaurants and entrepreneurs are not preferred.

We have a strict policy on plagiarism, which includes self-plagiarism: writers are requested not to send ideas that they have already written about for other publications.

4. What advice can you offer to a writer seeking to write about the food space, but from a non-lifestyle perspective?

Look beyond what press releases and social media posts say. Even the most successful ventures have faced their share of challenges.

Use the first few days to get a feel of the subject at hand; it’s likely that the first three people you interview may not be ideal subjects, but they will give you a look into who you ought to speak to.

Be open to challenging what you know, or what is widely accepted as being correct.

Currently, GFM is seeking pitches from reporters and writers for an upcoming series on freshwater sources in urban India and access to them. A background in environmental/civic reporting is preferred. Pitches can focus on successful case studies of conservation/revival efforts and clean-up programmes, the drying up or vanishing of vital water bodies, and stories of civic and community action. They also are on the lookout for reports on the revival of water bodies beyond rivers and lakes, such as stepwells. Deadline: mid-April.
- Email: gfm@akshayakalpa.org

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PITCH CALLS

• Rest of World is seeking experienced freelance journalists in Asia, Africa and the Middle East to cover the most compelling stories of how technology is reshaping lives beyond Silicon Valley. They are looking for pitches that explore technology's impact through our four main coverage pillars: Electric mobility transforming cities and economies, Tracking Chinese tech influence, Following Big Tech’s expansion and local adaptation, Unique tech solutions born from regional challenges. Pitch guidelines, here.
  - Rate: $750 to $1,000
  - Email: mehboob@restofworld.org for Asia and indranil@restofworld.org for Middle East and Africa.

• The Better India is looking for experts in health (mental & physical), parenting, food, nutrition, climate action, sustainability, human-centred innovation, gender, and social change—people who have spent years working in these fields and can share their insights in a meaningful way.
  - Email: leilabadyari@thebetterindia.com

• Wired is looking for pitches in the energy / enviro / climate space.
  - Email: molly_taft@wired.com

• @CosmopolitanUK has a new Acting Entertainment and Lifestyle Director who is open to pitches about TV, film, music, books and interview opps, as well as food, drink, travel, horoscopes and interiors.
  - Email Grace.Henry@hearst.co.uk

• Skin Deep is looking for pitches about bold, fresh work that sits at the intersection of racial justice and culture. Details, here.
  - Rate: £150-£300 per piece
  - Email: submissions@skindeepmag.com

• Digital Frontier magazine’s issue 005 is about OUTLIERS. Every piece must relate to emerging, digital tech and its impact on our lives. Deadline: march 31.

  - Email: sophia@digitalfrontier.com
  - Rates: ≥30p/word

• Business Insider is looking for hot-take essay pitches. Think short, 500-word pieces that get people talking. Pitch on this link.
  - Rate: starts at $220

• Parapraxis, an all-volunteer magazine devoted to the advancement of psychoanalytic thinking, is accepting pitches for their Winter 2025 issue on Romances. Pitching link, here.
  - Rate: $500-800 (print) | $500 (web)

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MISCELLANY

1. SCHOLARSHIP: Germany Gottfried Böhm Scholarship 2025 is open for architects and urban planners at Cologne. Fellowship includes: Monthly stipend of €2,500 for a year. Free accommodation in Cologne. Details, here.

2. POETRY CONTEST: Sweet Lit, the online literary magazine is open to poetry submissions for their contest. Deadline: March 31. Winners will receive $500, $100, and $50 respectively, and will be published in Sweet Lit.

3. WORKSHOP: Laws of Social Reproduction’s Early Career Researcher Workshop will be held on July 21 and 22, 2025 at India International Centre, New Delhi. They invite applications from advanced doctoral students and early career academics working on social reproduction laws. Submissions, here.

4. GRANT: Azim Premji University’s Health Research Grants 2025 offers ₹5 – ₹40 lakh. The second round of research grants is to build a deeper understanding of the health realities of vulnerable communities in India. Details, here.

5. COHORTS: United Nations Youth Affairs is looking for exceptional young people who are leading efforts to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Deadline: April 18. Details, here.

6. FELLOWSHIP: Applications are open for the 2026-2027 Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships. These fellowships are designed for Indian scholars who are registered for a Ph.D. at an Indian institution. These fellowships are for 6-9 months. More details, here. Deadline: July 15.

7. FELLOWSHIP: Asian Dispatch has partnered with Germany’s Goethe-Institut e.V. to launch a cross-border journalism fellowship. Fellows will work together to create a Knowledge Sharing Handbook—a practical guide to rethinking journalism’s role in an evolving global media landscape. If you are a journalist between 20 and 38 years old, apply soon. Deadline: April 6. Details, here.

8. JOBS: A thread of job offerings I come across on LinkedIn.

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RESOURCES

Ganesh Pol compiled a list of digital media platforms to pitch story ideas from rural India. I am sharing this helpful list with his permission.

1. Video Volunteers - https://lnkd.in/geiRNZem

2. People's Archive of Rural India - https://lnkd.in/gwreH7pj

3. 101Reporters - https://lnkd.in/gnUSrZyb

4. Countercurrents - https://lnkd.in/gxJZ7eu8

5. Mongabay India - https://lnkd.in/gaMwm8au

6. Village Square - https://lnkd.in/gqjYqJ7A

7. The Migration Story - https://lnkd.in/gNm9DD88

8. IndiaSpend - https://lnkd.in/ghiDhh8k

9. Context, Thomson Reuters Foundation - https://lnkd.in/gyjNizW4

10. The Wire - https://lnkd.in/gMPw63Rj

11. The Scroll - (https://scroll.in/) email at ideas@scroll.in

12. Youth Ki Awaaz - https://lnkd.in/gyeJxXp9

13. Behan Box - https://lnkd.in/gh-F9ek2

14. Global Voices - https://lnkd.in/gtBP9Fbr

15. Voices of Rural India - https://lnkd.in/gCSeE43m

16. Ground Report - https://lnkd.in/gBMNDTFS

17. India Development Review - https://lnkd.in/gHHShnRf

18. The third eye - https://lnkd.in/gBP57jex

19. Down to Earth - https://lnkd.in/gRBYbz5Q

20. Vikalp Sangam https://lnkd.in/gVXjfKtv

21. Feminism in India - https://lnkd.in/g_u2Y6jD

22. BaiManus - (https://baimanus.in/) Baimanus.in@gmail.com

23. Gaon Connection- (https://lnkd.in/gjguEqqs) Email: divendra@gaonconnection.com

24. Indie Journal (https://lnkd.in/gi5_Tvxh) Email: indiejournalindia@gmail.com

25. The better India- (https://lnkd.in/gApiZ7Kd) editorial@thebetterindia.com

26. The Xylom- https://lnkd.in/dMYfyRqm

27. Article 14 - (https://lnkd.in/dyDx8Gdf) Email your pitch at editor@article-14.com

28. Renewable Watch Magazine - (https://renewablewatch.in/| stories around renewable energy uptake, energy poverty stories from rural India) Email: info@renewablewatch.in

29. India Water Portal (Hindi, English) https://lnkd.in/gt9DHKj5

30. The Pomelo Magazine (Before pitching, please check their submission deadlines at editorialthepomelo@gmail.com) https://lnkd.in/gaMQG9xd

31. Jai Hind Project- mainly video story pitches. send pitches at atul.bokhandi@jaihindproject.in / sneha.mishra@jaihindproject.in
    (https://lnkd.in/gZgajBvs)

32. Asian Dispatch- (https://lnkd.in/gcheMJeV)

33. Rest of World (looks for pitches on very specific topics) https://lnkd.in/gJgAte3X

34. Earth Journalism Network - (for grants and fellowships on environment stories) https://lnkd.in/gTGQuMec

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I wish to make this newsletter a little more interactive. I will be sharing questions in each newsletter and collating the answers at the end of the year.

Here’s the first question:

Before we leave, some writing advice from Alan Moore:

“As a prospective writer, I would urge you to not only read good books. Read terrible books as well, because they can be more inspiring than the good books.”

Until next time, remember to read terrible books and listen to terrible (violence-inducing) jokes.

Keep writing | Keep pitching | Keep cool/ hydrated.

Regards,
Joanna