Get featured in Kitsap Sun

To get featured in the Kitsap Sun, you need a story with a real stake in Kitsap County: Bremerton, Port Orchard, Silverdale, Poulsbo, Bainbridge Island and the communities around them. You can pitch the reporter who covers your subject, write to the paper's opinion pages, or have a feature developed and placed with professional help. Whichever route you choose, the local angle is what decides whether a story belongs there.

Pitching the newsroom yourself is free, but it is slow and the editors decide what runs. DNA offers another way in: we develop the story with you, write it to the Kitsap Sun standard, manage the placement, and you approve every word before it goes live. If you came here to place an obituary, that is a separate process with its own route, covered below.

What the Kitsap Sun is

The Kitsap Sun is the local newspaper for Kitsap County, on the west side of Puget Sound in Washington State, and is based in Bremerton. It is owned by Gannett and is part of the USA TODAY Network, which links it with local titles across the country. It publishes in print and online, and for many readers on the peninsula it is the main source of county news.

What the Kitsap Sun covers

Local news is the core: county and city government, schools, courts and public safety, housing and development, and transport, including the ferries that link the peninsula with Seattle. The Navy is a large part of the local story, so the paper follows Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Naval Base Kitsap and the families and businesses that depend on them. It also covers local business, high school and community sport, the outdoors and the environment of the Sound, things to do, opinion and obituaries.

How to get featured in the Kitsap Sun

For news coverage, the practical route is to find the reporter who covers your area or subject, read what they have written recently, and send a short, specific note. Bylines make it clear who covers which beat, and the paper lists ways to reach its newsroom on its site. Lead with the facts, name the local people involved and say plainly why a Kitsap reader should care now. A long press release with no local detail is unlikely to get far.

Be realistic about the bar. A local newsroom covering a whole county has to choose carefully, and it covers what it judges newsworthy for its readers.

How to submit an obituary to the Kitsap Sun

Obituaries are handled separately from news. The Kitsap Sun provides an obituary submission route on its site, and that is where families, or funeral homes acting for them, place a notice. Many families ask their funeral home to arrange it, because funeral homes deal with the paper routinely and know the process. Check the obituaries section of the site for the current requirements, including photographs and deadlines, before you start writing.

An obituary is a notice written by the family rather than a news story. If the person who died had a notable public life, such as long service to a local organisation or a role in county affairs, a separate short note to the newsroom about that contribution is the way to seek a news story as well. DNA does not write or place obituaries.

What makes a strong piece for the Kitsap Sun

Local relevance comes first. A Silverdale business owner explaining how a change at the shipyard affects local suppliers, a Bainbridge Island nonprofit launching a new programme for families, a Port Orchard clinic addressing a health concern in the county, or a maritime specialist on the state of the Sound would all fit. Strong pieces carry named people, local places and good timing. A national story with a Kitsap name added on top rarely works. For a sense of how national stories are shaped differently, see the guide to USA Today, which sits in the same network as the Kitsap Sun.

How the process works

With DNA, the work runs in four steps. We check whether your story has a real Kitsap County angle and tell you plainly if it does not. You share the substance: what you do, what has changed and why it matters locally. We draft the feature to the Kitsap Sun standard and revise it with you. Once you approve every word, we manage the placement and send you the live link.

How long it takes

Expect weeks rather than days. Finding the right angle, drafting, your review and the placement all take time, and a local paper works to its own schedule.