Wednesday, 21 October 2026
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Good News England

From the editor’s desk

How to get your good news featured

The short answer: if something genuinely good happened, and it involves real, named people in England, send it to us with the details below. It’s free, Daniel reads everything, and we’ll tell you either way.

Last updated:

Submit your story

Charities: show the people behind the work

Tell us about a local programme, a fundraising milestone or a volunteer achievement. A charity can supply a story; it can also be the beneficiary of an individual’s fundraiser. We describe those relationships separately.

  • Name the project, the people involved and the town it serves.
  • Separate funds already raised from a target, with a dated primary source.
  • For an activity, include the date, venue, cost, access and booking contact. Say which details still need confirmation.
  • Send a quote we may attribute and permission for the supplied photograph.
Send a charity story

Community groups: explain what changed locally

You do not need a communications team. A club, volunteer group or neighbourhood project can bring a useful story with named organisers, clear facts and a reason it matters now.

  • Published

    The Great Big Climate Circus kicks off in Stroud

    Named local organisations, a documented funding award and credited imagery explain a youth-led community project. The June launch date has passed.

    Published in partnership with World Jungle. This is a historical June 2026 launch story.

  • Describe what happened, when, where and who benefited.
  • Identify the organiser and a contact who can check the account.
  • Explain how readers can join, volunteer or find current information.
  • Distinguish a funding award, a plan and an achieved result. A follow-up can tell us what happened after launch.
Send a community story

Businesses and PR representatives: bring a human story

A business can be part of a genuine local story: mentoring someone, supporting a community project or bringing local people together. We identify the business or agency supplying the information. Published sources are not customers buying coverage.

  • Lead with the person or local outcome, rather than a product or sales offer.
  • Name the organisation, any agency you represent and the original source of figures or research.
  • Include a person we can contact, attributable comments and primary evidence.
  • For events, separate organiser forecasts from confirmed details. Label artwork or posters accurately and include an original photograph if available.
Send a business storySend a story as a PR representative

Individuals: share your own story or local achievement

You can tell us about your own achievement, a fundraiser or someone making a difference locally. You do not need to be a writer. If you want to report stories yourself, the Press Box explains our writer route.

  • Tell us who did what, where and when, in your own words.
  • Share evidence we can check and distinguish your plans from what has happened.
  • For fundraising, name the beneficiary and link to the official appeal.
  • Explain what you are comfortable sharing publicly and confirm permission for any image.
Send your own story

What we publish (and what we don’t)

We feature stories that are:

  • Genuinely good news: something got better for real people. Fundraising milestones, community programmes launching, volunteer achievements, local wins.
  • Verifiable: named people, named places, details we can check with you. We verify before we publish; that’s the whole point of us.
  • From England: anchored to a real town or city.
  • Recent: happened lately or happening soon.

We don’t publish:

  • Product launches or promotions dressed up as news, “local business launches exciting new service” is an advert.
  • Anything we can’t verify, or stories without a human in them.
  • Paid placements. Coverage is never for sale: no fees, no “guaranteed features”, no link deals. If you’ve been offered that elsewhere, that’s advertising, not news.

Copy this five-sentence story brief

You do not need to write a press release. Replace the brackets, keep the facts plain, and paste the result into the story form.

  1. [Named person or group] did [one concrete action].
  2. It happened in [town or city] on [date].
  3. The action helped or changed [named people, animals, group or place].
  4. The measurable result so far is [amount, number, first, record or visible outcome].
  5. It matters now because [time peg or next step], and [named contact] can verify it.

Add these practical assets

  • A real photograph showing the person or action, with an accurate caption. If you only have an event poster, identify it as artwork rather than a photograph.
  • The photographer’s name, what the image shows, and confirmation you may share it for publication.
  • Correct spellings, dates, figures, a primary source link, and one person we may contact.
  • The uncropped original at its native proportions. A photograph at least 1,200 pixels wide is helpful when available; do not enlarge or crop a smaller image to meet that size. Identify any supplied event poster as artwork.

How to send us your story, three steps

  1. Write five plain sentences. Who did what, where, when, and why it matters. Skip the press-release language: “Margaret, 82, has knitted 400 blankets for Leeds neonatal wards since January” beats three paragraphs of “we are delighted to announce”.
  2. Attach the practical bits. One or two photos you own the rights to (people, not logos), a contact who can answer questions, and permission from anyone named. If it’s an event: date, venue, how people join.
  3. Send it via our story form. Daniel reads every submission. If it’s a fit, we’ll come back with questions and write it up properly, in our words, fact-checked with you, with a real byline.

Straight answers to fair questions

Does it cost anything?

No. Editorial coverage is free and always will be. We’re reader-supported, not placement-funded.

Is coverage guaranteed?

No, an editor decides, like any news outlet. What we guarantee is that a human reads your submission and you get an answer.

Will you link to our website?

Where it helps readers, a charity’s donation page, an event’s booking page, yes, at our discretion. We don’t do link placement, and we don’t discuss “SEO value”. Please don’t ask.

We’re a charity with a steady stream of stories, is there a better route?

Tell us about the recurring work through our source partnership route. The published examples include Parkinson’s UK and World Jungle. We still assess each story individually, identify the source and credit supplied images. There is no coverage fee or publication guarantee.

We’re a business, can you feature us?

If there’s a real story with a person at its heart, yes: an apprentice who has just qualified, a community project you have funded, a local hiring push, or a long-standing local firm marking a genuine milestone. Editorial consideration is free for businesses and PR representatives too. We do not sell coverage, links or guaranteed features. A recurring source relationship does not change the editor’s decision.

How long until we hear back?

Usually within a week. Time-sensitive story (an event coming up)? Say so in the first line.

What if you say no?

We’ll say so plainly, and where we can, tell you why. A “no” here isn’t a verdict on your work, often it just isn’t a story yet. Milestones, firsts and named people usually are.

Got something good?

Five sentences, a photo, a contact. We’ll take it from there.

Submit your story

Not ready to pitch yet?

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How contributing works, in plain terms

Who can contribute
Readers, charities and community groups, businesses with a genuine human story, photographers, first-time writers and experienced journalists.
Where
Positive, verifiable stories and documentary photographs connected to England's towns and cities.
Cost
Free to submit and free to be considered. Coverage, links and bylines cannot be bought, and we do not run guest posts.
Payment
None, unless a separate written commission says otherwise. Nothing here implies employment.
Who decides
Daniel Stevens, founder and editor, reads every submission. Publication is never guaranteed, and Daniel makes the final call on every word.
Credit
Writers receive a named byline and photographers receive a credit when their work is published. People and organisations supplying a story are attributed as sources; submitting a story does not promise its author byline.
Rights
Photographers keep their copyright. Send only images you own or have permission to share for publication, and tell us the required credit. You can contact us about credit or removal.
Evidence
We need a source or contact we can check and confirmation of image rights. Facts may be verified with the people involved before publication.
Reply
You will receive a personal reply, usually within a week. Time-sensitive? Say so in your first line.
Contact
hello@goodnewsengland.co.uk

Casting a wider net? For charities, Media Trust’s resource hub is excellent on working with the media generally, and free press-release distribution exists for non-profits (e.g. Pressat’s charity programme). Your local paper wants good local stories too, the five-sentence rule works everywhere.