How to submit a letter to the editor

Article content

We welcome letters to the editor. Here are some quick guidelines:

– Our address is letters@ottawacitizen.com. Please note, due to volume, we cannot respond to individual letters.

– Keep your letter short. While longer letters are sometimes published, we give preference to letters of under 200 words. Sometimes a sentence or two is sufficient.

– Please include your first and last name, address and phone number for verification (these will not appear in print; your name and municipality?will).

– Please do not send your letter as an attachment or link. Simply cut and paste it into the body of your main email.

– If you are responding to an article that appeared in the Citizen, please include, if possible, the headline and publication date of that article.

– Keep it civil, even if you are writing to disagree with someone. Personal attacks considerably lessen your chances of publication.

– Please do not send us letters you are submitting elsewhere. Please do not send us “open letters” for?politicians or other public figures. (They can read their own mail.) Please do not send poems.

— We do not respond to letter-writing campaigns or similar mass mailings.

– We cannot run every letter we receive, and so will usually give preference to local writers and those we have not heard from before. We also favour letters about recent events; if you are commenting on something that occurred weeks or months ago, your chances of publication diminish. We may reject letters for legal reasons. And, to repeat, we favour shorter letters (so that we can run as many different voices as possible).

– We edit for length, clarity and style, but strive to ensure your arguments are kept intact.

All that said, here it is again: Please email your letters to?letters@ottawacitizen.com

We look forward to hearing your voice – and sharing it with other?readers.