Story Submissions

We encourage all alumnus and undergraduate brothers to share their news items, story ideas, and other suggestions. Please note that the Editor reserves all rights pertaining to publication decisions.

If you have a story idea, please e-mail the editor.

Story suggestions

If you have an idea for an inspiring story or feature, we’d love to hear from you. If you need help refining your story ideas, the Editor can also provide you with suggestions. Please send your proposals to rattle@thetachi.org.

When writing stories or developing story ideas, it’s often helpful to think of a specific angle or area of emphasis. A feature story about how a brother dealt with a particular issue, problem or challenge is often more interesting to read about than a generic personality profile.

Keep your intended audience in mind. Your story should connect with, challenge, or call Theta Chis to action.

A note about news briefs

Please keep all chapter and alumni news briefs to between 150-250 words each.

Be specific- if your chapter raised money for a philanthropy, tell us how much; if you won an award, tell us what for; if your chapter is involved on campus, tell us in what ways. The more details you give us, the more in-depth coverage we can provide.

If your news brief mentions specific individual members by name, please include their full names, what chapters they're from, and what year they graduated (or plan to graduate). For example: John Smith (Iota Theta/Central Florida 2012).

Photo submission guidelines

A picture is worth a thousand words, but not if it's out-of-focus or blurry. The Rattle will only publish photos that are high-resolution (minimum 300 dpi, 600 dpi preferred). Otherwise, your photos will turn out to be bitmapped, blurry and unusable, even if they look fine on your computer. Large photos can be posted to an FTP, DropBox folder, or mailed to the International Headquarters on a CD.

Don't forget to use a flash to ensure your subjects are well-lit.

Please do not alter, process or manipulate your photos prior to sending them in. Processing your photos may reduce the image quality, and may therefore render your photo unusable.

When submitting photos with a story, please include a brief (20 words or less) caption of what is going on in the picture. As part of your caption, include the names, chapters and graduating years of any brothers that are featured prominently.

Keep your photos appropriate. The Rattle is distributed to undergraduates, alumni, Greek life professionals, university officials and many others. Make sure your chapter represents itself well!

If you have a story idea, please e-mail the editor.