Yes! The opinion section is one of the most widely read sections of a newspaper. Your Letter to the Editor can reach a large audience including elected officials who are often monitoring public opinions.

By getting published, your voice can have an outsized impact and can create an impression of widespread support for or opposition to an issue.

Step 1: Choose your angle. Choose an angle for your letter so it has a specific point of view.

Think about who you are in relation to your community and write as a representative of that identity.

Examples:

• If you are a nurse you can write about the need for affordable health care and how a functioning democracy can make that happen.
• If you are a teacher you can write about how our dysfunctional democracy is hurting our children’s ability to receive the best education possible.

Step 2: Write your hook. Your hook is the opening 1-2 sentences of your letter.

The goal is to introduce your angle and entice the reader to keep going. You can respond to a recent news article, ask a question, tell a joke, etc. Don’t be afraid to get creative! The best hooks are ones that the reader doesn’t expect.

Examples:

• “Our world has been completely upended in the last year and a half”
• “American democracy is under attack. The year started with anti-democratic vigilantes trying to overturn an election and has continued with states passing anti-voting and election subversion laws.”

Step 3: Write the body of your letter. In 4-5 sentences, your body should give supporting details to enhance your argument. Make sure to write your body with your target audience and angle in mind.

Example:

• “The Freedom to Vote Act would make partisan gerrymandering illegal, shine a light on the dark money that is corrupting our political system, protect election workers and voters from partisan intimidation, make election day a holiday, and create national standards for voter registration, voter ID, voting by mail and early voting. With these protections in place, the right to vote will be preserved across the country, special interests will have less influence in Congress, and voters will be able to choose their politicians instead of politicians choosing their voters.”

Step 4: End with a clear ask. This is your call to action, whether it’s asking elected officials to support a bill or asking your community members to call their representatives.

Example:

• “Congress must pass the Freedom to Vote Act to save our democracy.”

Step 5: Submit. We recommend selecting one small and one large paper in your local area. Use our form below to get sample letters, identify papers in your area and directly submit to newsrooms.

Yes! We regularly host LTE trainings. Check our events calendar to see what’s upcoming.

You can also join our volunteer Slack community where there are hundreds of volunteers writing LTEs, collaborating and sharing tips.

We require your address in order to find and display the newspapers in your local area. Our LTE tool provides you sample letters to customize and will allow you to easily and directly submit your letter to a newsroom.