The Press Box · Community-writer programme · Founding intake closed
Where new UK writers get their first real bylines.
And their twentieth.
You might be a journalism graduate who hasn’t found the front door of the industry.
You might run a business with good news from your industry, and want to tell it in your own voice.
You might work for a charity doing real good, and want the world to hear about it.
You might be 52 and finally writing the thing you’ve been carrying for thirty years.
You might know your town better than anyone, and want to tell its stories properly.
If any of that lands, The Press Box is for you.
The founding intake has closed
Join the next-intake waitlist →Already a member? Sign in to the portal
Current status
The Founding 100 closed on 17 July 2026. Applications are not open today. The free next-intake waitlist is open for people seeking a first byline, positive local reporting, portfolio experience or a route to contribute as an already-published writer. Capacity, timing and terms will be stated before the next intake opens.
Why bother getting published
Wanting to be published isn’t vanity. A byline on a real publication is searchable, permanent, edited, and read by actual strangers, which is the difference between writing and being a writer.
What people remember is the writer who actually said something. The one whose name they looked up. The one whose voice they recognised.
The Press Box is the place where that starts.
What you actually get
When you’re accepted as one of the Founding 100, you join Britain’s first writer-first newsroom, free, for the founding cohort. Here’s what that actually gives you.
Real, published bylines
Your writing, under your name, published on a live news site that real people read across fifty English towns, not a personal blog, not a portfolio sitting in a drawer. A genuine, public clip you can point an editor to.
Edited by the founder, personally
Every piece you submit goes through me, line by line. No AI editing, no junior eyes. For most writers, being properly edited by someone who’s done it is the single fastest way to get better. That’s the whole point of The Press Box.
A founding place that’s yours forever
A numbered founding share, #1 through #100, listed on the Founders’ Wall and your own writer profile at goodnewsengland.co.uk/writers/your-name/, schema-marked, Google-indexed, building your public byline history as you publish. The number is permanent. We will never issue it again.
A way into a hard-to-open door
Office hours, a founding cohort writing alongside you, and an editor in your corner, a way into an industry that almost never has an obvious front door. The Press Box is free to join for the founding cohort: you’re here for the bylines, the editing and the people.
The Founding 100
The founding intake was capped at 100 members. The door is now closed on that cohort. A later intake may open under explicitly different terms. Any founding numbers already issued are permanent and never reissued.
Two founding seats per UK city. Once your city’s two seats are taken, the door closes on that city. If your city has already filled, you’ll go to the founding waitlist.
Your founding number, #1 through #100, is assigned in order of acceptance. The first ten are reserved for first-week applicants only. After that, numbers go in order. Same deal for everyone, but the number is yours forever. “I was Founding Share #7” is the kind of thing you’ll say at dinner parties for the rest of your career.
What we expect from you
We’re looking for writers who care about places. Not careers. Not “thought leadership”. Places. The town you grew up in. The city where you work. The neighbourhood you walk through every day.
You don’t need a journalism degree. You don’t need published bylines. You don’t need to be 22. You need to be able to write, take feedback, and show up.
In return: real publication, a real editor (me), the four channels above, the partner-content opportunities with national charities and businesses, and the lifetime upside of being there first.
From the founder
I started Good News England to give the local stories that actually shape your week, the school that opened, the charity that hit its target, the person who did the unreasonable, generous thing, the room and the readership they deserve.
The hard part of building it wasn’t the technology. It was the writers. Local good news happens everywhere; finding the people to tell it well is the bottleneck.
The Press Box exists to fix that bottleneck for me, and to fix the “nowhere to start” problem for you. The 100 founder seats, the four channels, the open disclosure, the sliding bonus, none of that is normal. We share our success with the writers who do the work, and we always will, for as long as we’re running, and in good faith.
You’ll be part of building something British journalism hasn’t tried in a generation.
Daniel Stevens, Founder
Founding intake closed · 17 July 2026
The Founding 100 intake is closed.
The founding intake closed on 17 July 2026 and will never reopen on these terms, founding numbers are permanent and never reissued. A later intake may open under different conditions.
The Press Box itself is only getting started. Join the waitlist and you’ll be the first to hear when the next intake opens.
And see who got in first, the names live on the Founders’ Wall.
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
- A human editor (Daniel Stevens, founder) reads every submission. Publication is never guaranteed, and the editor makes the final call on every word.
- Credit
- A named byline or photographer credit when published, using the public name you choose.
- Rights
- Photographers keep their copyright. Each form states in plain English exactly where we may use what you send, and you can ask for it to be taken down.
- 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
- A human replies, usually within a week. Time-sensitive? Say so in your first line.
- Contact
- hello@goodnewsengland.co.uk
The Press Box is part of Good News England. By applying, you agree we may contact you about your application.
The Press Box is free to join for the founding cohort and makes no payment, revenue-share or earnings promises. It’s a place to get published, edited and recognised, we’ll set out exactly what membership involves in your Founder Letter when you’re accepted.