Our Story Selection Process

BitterSweet stories, or more specifically the subjects of our stories, are nominated by you, our readers, on a rolling basis throughout the year. Our editorial team is constantly reviewing submissions, researching organizations, then compiles a shortlist for our contributor team to consider at our annual Story Slate Debate. It's a day-long exercise of pitching potential stories to one another and evaluating each nomination in light of our criteria - mission, strategy, quality, feasibility, utility. Each story is scored by each contributor, then those scores are aggregated and ranked. The final slate is approved by our contributors, then pitched to BitterSweet's readers and supporters to help fund production budgets. With budgets raised, we establish the editorial calendar and begin producing the stories in order of their publish date with contributors volunteering to cover pieces that resonate and inspire them the most.

So in short, our selection process does begin and end with our readers!

We are always looking for more inspiring stories/organizations to add to the mix, so nominate an organization if you have some ideas!