Contributor terms

1. Who we are

This website is run by Send My Story (sendmystory.co.uk) (“we”, “us”). We are not a newspaper: we work with journalists and news organisations to get stories published. You can contact us at stories@sendmystory.co.uk.

These terms apply between us and you when you send us a story through this website, by email or by message. When you tick the first box on our form, you agree to them.

If you send us a story by email or message instead of using our form, we will send you a link to these terms and our privacy notice, and we will only take your story forward once you have told us you agree.

2. Who can send a story

You must be 18 or over. The story must be your own to tell: something that happened to you, or that you were directly involved in. If a story is mainly about someone else, we will need their agreement too.

If we find you are under 18, we will not take your story forward, and we will delete what you sent us.

3. What you promise us

When you send us a story, you confirm that:

• what you tell us is true, as far as you know;
• you are not accusing anyone who could be identified of a crime or of serious wrongdoing, unless it is already on public record, such as in a court report or a published article;
• you are not breaking a court order, a confidentiality agreement or anyone else’s rights by sharing it;
• you took any photos, videos or recordings you send us, or the person who did has agreed to them being shared with us and published with your story; and
• you will tell us if anyone other than you can be recognised in them. If that includes a child, we will need permission from a parent or guardian, and we may choose a different image instead.

You are responsible for anything you send us that breaks these promises. We can edit your story, leave things out of it, or decide not to use it, for example if we think something in it breaks them.

Please tell us straight away if you realise something you told us is not right.

4. What happens after you send it

We read every story and aim to reply within one working day. We decide which stories to take forward, and we do not have to take any story on. If we cannot use yours, we will tell you, and you are free to take it elsewhere.

If we take your story forward, we will get in touch the way you asked (WhatsApp, a phone call or email) to understand it properly, collect quotes in your own words and ask for photos. These terms cover everything you tell us or send us about your story, whether in the form, on this website, by message, on a call or by email.

5. What you allow us to do

You keep the copyright in your words, photos and recordings. You give us permission (a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence) to:

• contact you about your story by the method you chose, and ask you for more detail and photos;
• write your story up, using anything you tell us, as your quotes;
• offer your story to journalists and publications in the UK and elsewhere, and share it with them together with your name and the photos, videos, recordings and anything else you send us; and
• allow a publication that runs your story to publish that material with it, in print and online, including in its archive and on its social media.

This permission lasts for as long as a publication keeps your story. It also covers the publication’s sister titles, and partners it shares stories with. Once your story has been published, you cannot take this permission back for that story, but you can still ask us to stop offering it anywhere new.

This permission covers everything you send us about your story, whenever you send it, so we do not need to ask you again before we use it. If there is anything you would rather we did not use, tell us at any time, and we will leave it out of anything we send from then on.

If a publication wants to run your story exclusively, we will ask you first. While we are actively offering your story, please tell us before you offer it anywhere else, so that we do not promise a journalist something we cannot deliver.

6. Your words and quotes

When you agree to these terms, you agree that anything you tell us about your story, in the form, by message, on a call or by email, may be written up and used as your quotes in the story we offer to journalists. If you tell us something is just for background, or not to be used, we will not quote it.

We write your story up faithfully from what you tell us. We will not invent quotes or change what happened. You do not need to approve the write-up before we offer it. If you tell us something is wrong, we will correct it with any journalist who has it.

Publications make their own editorial decisions. A newsdesk may shorten or edit a story and will write its own headline. We cannot control that.

7. Being named and pictured

Most publications will only run a personal story with the person’s real name and a photograph, so we use your name and the photos you send us with your story. If you would rather not be named, tell us before we offer your story, and we will tell you honestly whether we can still place it. We pay the £100 only when a published story names you or shows your photo (see section 10).

8. Other people in the story

News stories often include comment from experts, businesses, charities or other organisations, so your story may appear alongside theirs. We will never present you as endorsing a product or organisation unless you have agreed to that separately.

9. Changing your mind

• Before we have offered your story to anyone: you can withdraw it at any time. Tell us by email, on WhatsApp or on a call, whichever is easiest, and we will stop work on it.
• After we have offered it, but before it is published: tell us as soon as possible. We will withdraw it and ask every journalist we offered it to not to use it. We will do all we reasonably can, but we cannot recall copies we have already sent, or guarantee that a publication will agree.
• After it has been published: we cannot remove it, because the publication controls what it has published. We will pass on any request you make to the publication and help where we can.

If you withdraw your story before it is published, we delete it within 30 days.

10. Payment

• We will pay you £100 when your story, or any part of it, is published in print or online and it names you or shows your photo. It can be the whole story, or a bigger article that quotes you by name or uses your photo. That includes a story that runs months later, and one that runs after you withdrew it. It does not include a story you placed yourself.
• “Your photo” means any photo you send us, whether or not you are in it.
• That is one payment per story, even if it runs in more than one place.
• We will message you when we see your story published. If you spot it first, send us the link.
• We will pay you by bank transfer within 24 hours of your story first being published. If we only find out about it later, or your bank details reach us later, we will pay within 24 hours of that.
• You have 6 months from when your story is first published to claim your payment, by sending us your bank details and, if we have not seen it, the link. After that, the payment is no longer due.
• We pay into a UK bank account in your name. We will only ever ask for the details we need to do that, and we will never ask for a card number, a PIN, a password or a fee.
• If your story is not published, or it runs without your name or your photo, there is no payment, and you owe us nothing.
• We pay the full amount and do not deduct tax. You are responsible for telling HMRC about it if your circumstances require that.
• If we find that a story was materially untrue, or was not yours to tell, we may withdraw it and withhold payment.

You will never pay us anything: not to send a story, not to have it placed, not ever.

11. Our responsibility to you

We will handle your story with reasonable care and skill. We are not responsible for what a publication decides to publish or how it edits a story, beyond the steps in these terms.

Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited by law. Nothing in them affects your legal rights as a consumer.

12. Your personal information

Our privacy notice explains what we collect, why, who we share it with and how long we keep it.

13. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. The version you agreed to applies to the story you sent, unless you agree to a newer version. The date at the top of this page shows when they last changed.

14. Law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can also bring proceedings in your local courts.

15. Contact

Questions about these terms: stories@sendmystory.co.uk. If you are unhappy with how we have handled your story, see our complaints page.