Get featured in Ottawa Citizen

To get featured in the Ottawa Citizen, you either give one of its reporters an Ottawa story worth covering, send a letter or opinion piece that the opinion desk decides to run, or have a feature developed and placed with professional help. Whichever route you take, the story needs a genuine Ottawa angle, because that is what the paper exists to cover.

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 Citizen's standard, manage the placement, and you approve every word before it goes live.

What the Ottawa Citizen is

The Ottawa Citizen is the long-established daily newspaper of Ottawa, the capital of Canada. It is owned by Postmedia Network, which also publishes the National Post, the Financial Post and daily papers in cities across the country. The Citizen publishes in print and online, and its home in the capital gives it a close view of Parliament and the federal public service.

What the Ottawa Citizen covers

The site is built around local news for Ottawa: city hall, transit, housing, schools, health, crime and courts. It follows federal politics and the public service closely, because both shape the city's economy and daily life. Sport is a major draw, led by the Senators and the Redblacks. It also covers business, arts, food, life, opinion and obituaries.

How to get featured in the Ottawa Citizen

For news coverage, find the reporter who covers your subject, read what they have written recently and send a short note with the facts and the local reason to care. The paper lists ways to contact its newsroom on its site, and bylines show who covers which beat. A pitch that names Ottawa people, places and consequences will travel further than a general press release.

Be realistic about the bar: the newsroom covers what it judges newsworthy, and a company announcement with no wider local consequence is unlikely to become a story.

How to submit letters to the editor of the Ottawa Citizen

The Citizen runs letters from readers alongside its own columnists and opinion pieces. Letters go to the opinion desk through the route listed on its site, and that page sets out the current requirements, so read it before you send anything. Longer opinion pieces, where the desk accepts them, follow the same route. In general terms, a strong letter:

• Responds to something the Citizen has published or to a live Ottawa issue.
• Makes one clear point rather than several.
• Is short, plain and written for a general reader.
• Includes the identifying details the paper asks for, so it can be checked.

What makes a strong piece for the Citizen

Local relevance is the first test. A founder on what a change in federal procurement means for Ottawa technology firms, a physician on a health issue in the city, or a restaurant owner explaining a change in a neighbourhood all fit. Strong pieces carry named people, local detail and good timing. For a business story with a national reach, the guide to the Financial Post, a Postmedia sister title, shows how the angle shifts.

How the process works

With DNA, the work runs in four steps. We check whether your story has a real Ottawa 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 Citizen's 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. The angle, the drafting, your review and the placement all take time.