Parks & Recreation magazine is the official monthly publication of the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA). NRPA's mission is "To advance parks, recreation and environmental conservation efforts that improve the quality of life for all people." The magazine strives to inform both professional and citizen advocates on issues, trends and news that support NRPA's mission.

Before submitting an editorial inquiry, please familiarize yourself with the magazine by perusing a few recent issues on ezine.nrpa.org or parksandrecreation.org. If you are interested in writing for Parks & Recreation, please review the information below.

About the Publication

Run of Publication

  • "Letters" — The editors welcome feedback from readers on the magazine and content found in previous issues through website comments, emailed feedback, social media responses and more. For ease of publication, the editors request feedback letters to be limited to 300 words; however, longer feedback can be submitted but may be edited for publication.
  • "We Are Parks and Recreation" — Consists of short features, news highlighting current events in the field and ideas from park and recreation professionals for the benefit of others in the industry. Article length ranges anywhere from 200 to 800 words.

Columns

  • "Advocacy" — Focuses on legislation and policy relevant to parks and recreation.
  • "Law Review" — Explores legal precedents set by lawsuits affecting park and recreation agencies or industry suppliers. This is written by a dedicated columnist each month.
  • "Health and Wellness" — Examines case studies that showcase the health effects parks and recreation can have on communities.
  •  "Equity" — Focuses on opportunities for inclusivity that parks and recreation can provide.
  • "Conservation" — Examines environmental issues relevant to parks and recreation.

Columns run approximately 500 to 750 words each. Aside from Law Review, which is written by a dedicated columnist each month, our editors welcome ideas and proposals for any of the columns.

Departments

  • "Operations" — Articles range between 500 and 750 words in length and focus on operational aspects of parks and recreation. These articles should address issues and trends that impact operating agencies and facilities, rather than present a "how to"-style narrative. Recent topics have included swimming pool regulations, sustainable purchasing, maintenance issues and marketing trends, among others.
  • "Products" — A showcase of different offerings that may be of interest to park and recreation professionals. If you represent a product or company and would like to submit your item for consideration, please email us at prmagazine@nrpa.org. Send a 100-word description of the item along with company contact information and a high-resolution photo.
  • "Park Bench" — The last page of the magazine and presents a humorous, whimsical or inspirational look at the park and recreation field. Generally, the backdrop of the page is a full-size high-resolution photo, with no more than 300 words describing a park event, a historical find, an encouraging story, etc.

Features

Feature stories range between 1,500 and 1,800 words and explore issues, trends and people in greater detail. Authors are encouraged to focus their narrative lens on the people behind the story. Thus, in addition to extensive research and reporting, interviews with numerous subjects are typically required for feature-length articles, along with excellent, high-resolution photographs. Parks & Recreation strives to cover controversial and engaging topics relevant to the field of parks and recreation. Recent feature topics have included gun restrictions in parks, ethical questions related to public-private partnerships, dealing with populations of homeless people in parks, working collaboratively with mountain biking groups to reduce illegal trail building, etc. Due to the complexity of feature articles, assignments are generally given to experts in the field or proven writers, so freelancers looking to write feature articles for Parks & Recreation are encouraged to start with a few successful department pieces first.

Submitting to Parks & Recreation

The editors of Parks & Recreation welcome article ideas, queries and suggestions. Because of the specialized nature of the magazine, submission of finished manuscripts is strongly discouraged. Instead, a short outline of your idea should be submitted through our online proposal submission form. Our editors will review and respond soon after considering the submission given the magazine’s current editorial needs.

How do I submit?

Once you have read through our submission guidelines, you can send us your proposal through our online proposal submission form.

What should my submission include?

Required

  • A short outline of your vision for the piece, no more than 250 words
  • Author bio information – our standard bio format is [name] is [title] at [organization] (email)

Highly Recommended

  • High-resolution photos, no less than 300dpi and no smaller than 5x7
  • Caption information for each photo
  • Photo credit for each photo

What’s the review process?

Again, the editors stress that preliminary queries are strongly preferred over completed manuscripts. Once you have sent your proposal, our editors will review and respond soon after, considering the submission given the magazine’s current editorial needs. We do our best to respond as quickly as possible, but cannot always respond immediately.

What we look for:

  • Is the content interesting, timely and relevant to our readers?
  • Is the piece accurate, factual and truthful?
  • Does the piece present an original idea?

If my article is accepted, what’s next?

Once your proposal is accepted, our editors will contact you to request a complete draft. Note: NRPA and Parks & Recreation magazine reserve the right to edit any submitted content for style, clarity, brevity or length.

Even after articles are accepted, we cannot guarantee a publication date, though typically articles are published soon after acceptance. Contributing factors are timing/relevancy of topic, and the editorial focus and needs of upcoming issues. Once an article has been placed in an issue, we will notify the author.

What are the conditions?

Due to time constraints, we cannot guarantee edited materials will be sent back for review before publication. We encourage you to submit photos and visuals with the article. If none are provided, NRPA will add a photo(s). 

Once accepted for publication, all materials become the property of NRPA. As noted above, NRPA and Parks & Recreation magazine reserve the right to edit any submitted content for style, clarity, brevity or length.

We do not accept work that has been published elsewhere or is currently under review for any other print publication, website or blog. In addition, any submitted images or graphic elements must be accurately sourced and proper photo credit provided to the magazine staff prior to publication.

Can I see your Editorial Calendar?

The editorial calendar can be found here. Please note that our editorial calendar is subject to change at our editors’ discretion.

What if I still have questions?

If you still have questions about the editorial process, please email our editors at prmagazine@nrpa.org.