Choose a category of interest
Choose filters to apply
Author name
Place
Guidelines
Helping the students of today, build a more conscientious tomorrow
Guidelines for PARI contributors
Writers, photographers, filmmakers and others
- Types of Articles and Other Content
- Many different kinds of articles/writing go up on PARI. There are:
- Full-length feature: Ideally, these articles will be 1,000 words or less, on average. That’s the standard we aim for. An article can go up to 1,200-1,500 words if it is very good – in terms of content, as well as writing and photographs. If it’s a story of truly exceptional merit or on a crucial subject, we can consider a longer word limit for that article – and it can go up to 2,000 words. But if you have something that needs 2,000 words, try and break it into two standalone pieces.
- The number of photos in a full-length feature ranges from 4 to 8. (A diptych or triptych is counted as one image). Too many photographs, especially large ones, can actually undermine the readability of the text.
- We need brief 1-2 line captions for each photo, identifying the person/ place/ activity/ event in the image.
- If the writer has more than 4-8 very good photographs, they can become a Photo album of a maximum of 8-15 photos. Each of these also requires a caption.
- For example, Journey through Kumartuli
- See the Photo Guidelines for more on the quality of photographs for all slots on PARI.
- You can also submit very brief video clips to go with – and be embedded in – an article. See the Video Guidelines for more details.
- In other words, many of the stories PARI publishes will be truly multi-media and we would like you to approach a subject in that framework.
- Photo story: All text articles on PARI – without exception – carry photographs. In a photo story, however, the number of photos can be more and they are sequenced as a narrative. Remember, this format is aimed at telling a visuals-enabled story.
- Ideally, a photo story should have around 10-12 images. Any more can get unwieldy online.
- A photo story requires an introduction – that is, a couple of opening paragraphs, of up to 150 words. In this format, because the images and text combine to tell a story, the total word length should ideally not exceed 800 words.
- See When the cows come home in Parkidih
- Please also send brief captions for the photos in such stories. Photo stories can also be accompanied by a photo album if you have more than 10-12 very good images.
- Photo essay: It has less text than a photo story, primarily an introduction, captions and perhaps a winding-up paragraph. It can have 12-15 photographs, with captions not exceeding 50 words each. In a photo essay, the captions themselves are the main text. The total word length should ideally not exceed 500.
- See Kynja’s day at the aanganwadi
- Photo album: In addition to being embedded in a full-length feature or photo story, this ‘slideshow’ can also be a standalone album, with the number of images ranging from 3 to 15. Each photo requires a brief caption.
- This one – The amazing spiderwoman – has seven.
- Travel stories: The category Musafir on PARI refers to more than just a traveller. It suggests a worldly-wise observer. These are stories from the road. They can be light-hearted, funny or even have very serious content narrated with a light touch. And while direct quotes are still required, the author’s voice can come in a lot more than in the other formats. A Musafir story can be as short as 300 words, or as long as a full-length feature. The number of photos will vary according to the length of the article – it can even be a single picture or up to a maximum of 8.
- See Biswas and the bamboos on his bike and The Potato Song
- Reports: If research holds your interest, take a look at our Resources section.
- The Resources section is PARI’s effort at building a library of documents, studies, reports and even books, online. To make navigation of the library easier, we summarise the report’s focus. We also give these details: the report’s origin, its authors and details of publication. And we carry 5-10 ‘factoids’ from the contents, which let readers figure out whether this is a report they wish to study in detail.
- Contributors can send in full soft copy (that is, in electronic form) reports with a synopsis and factoids, or even identify such material in the public domain for us to add to the PARI Resources section. For an example of a summary/ factoids, see Report on Conditions of Work and Promotion of Livelihoods in the Unorganised Sector
- Please note that we carry reports that are official, or independent and non-government but credible and authentic. The bulk of what we carry will perforce be government reports because that is where officialdom places data on record. Census, NSSO, central and state ministry reports, official studies and surveys, reports of the United Nations and other established international bodies and the like. We do, though, seek to also carry independent reports that are credible and serious, as we have with the reports on the threat to journalists and human rights in Bastar.
- Faces: You can send in photos for PARI’s FACES endeavour – an ambitious attempt to create a facial map of the most diverse societies on earth, those across rural India. From every single district (and each block of every district) we aim to put up portraits of at least one adult male, one adult female and one child or adolescent. Anyone can participate, provided the photograph is good enough. It is also very important that the image you send in is hi-resolution, ideally portrait orientation, and accompanied by the details of the person in the picture.
- These are the details we need:
- Name: Please give the full name of the person in the photo; for example, if the name is Roshan Nalaband, use this name in full, instead of just 'Roshan'.