Submit to Material Grrrlz

Material Grrrlz is an independent publication celebrating the work of women and queer makers at the intersection of DIY and girlhood <3

Craft has long been a space of self-expression, invention, and innovation, and we’re creating a new version of our quarterly mag that will keep you updated on all of it. Got something to share with the grrrlz? We want to publish…

🌟 The latest rabbit hole you’ve gone down about a niche piece of craft history

🌟 A frontline report of how you messed up a project and ended up inventing something completely new

🌟 Your political manifesto about the importance of DIY

🌟 An unexpected intersection you’ve found between craft and pop culture

Material Grrrlz is a craft magazine celebrating girlhood from an accessible, but critical point of view. If you’ve got gaudy taste in clothes and polished skills in prose, we’re excited to read your pitch xoxo

Pitch Info

  • We’re looking for…

    🎀 Written pieces

    Journalistic writing about the intersections of craft and DIY, culture, and girlhood.

    To pitch, please send the following to hello@materialgrrrlz.com:

    • Working title

    • Proposed article format

    • 3-5 sentence summary of your idea

    • An example of your work in a similar style (this can be a portfolio, link to a newsletter, pdf scan of a letter you sent your ex… anything that shows your writing chops)

    🎀 Photographers

    Photograph our featured grrrl at work! We are looking for photographers around the world to lead editorial shoots of our cover grrrlz. To be considered, please send the following to hello@materialgrrrlz.com:

    • Examples of your work (link to a portfolio or social media account)

    • Your location

    We only plan to work with one photographer per issue, based on where our cover grrrl is located. During this pitch cycle, our goal is to connect with photographers in various areas that we may be able to offer future work to when relevant features come up.

    P.S. We’re not looking for…

    Fiber art patterns or tutorials, interviews, reviews, poetry or other artistic writing

  • Sunday 27 September

    Pitch deadline (have it in our inbox by Monday morning 🫡)

    Friday 2 October

    Contributors notified. Selected contributors will receive confirmation, a clear contract and timeline, pitch feedback, and an assigned format and word count. You will also hear back if your pitch has not been accepted.

    Sunday 18 October

    First drafts due. All contributors should be available for feedback and light revisions during the following week.

    Friday 30 October

    Final submissions due.

    Timely responses are appreciated throughout the editing process. Late or non-responsive submissions may be cut from the final issue. Please do not pitch if you will not be able to work to the outlined timeline.

  • Material Grrrlz is an independently published project committed to paying creatives for their work. As a self-funded publication, we will continue to assess our compensation and offer the best rates we can while keeping the magazine sustainable.

    This issue, we can offer:

    • $250 for editorial photography

    • $150 for feature length articles (approx. 1500 words)

    • $80 for medium length pieces (approx. 800 words)

    • $60 for short articles (approx. 600 words)

    Rates are non-negotiable. Selected contributors will be notified what length article they have been selected for. Payment will be made via Paypal within 1 month of final asset delivery.

  • Do I need to be a professional artist?

    No! We especially want to hear from avid hobbyists and passionate grrrlz with varied experiences within the creative sphere.

    What crafts are eligible?

    Material Grrrlz centers textile crafts, traditional methods of hand-making, and histories of femininity and domesticity. We are particularly interested in pitches that draw on textile art as a material, process, or method that drives inventiveness in other creative fields, such as fashion, tech, beauty, and education. That being said, we’re always open to hearing what your definition of being a material grrrl is, and encourage submissions from anyone crafting their life in an interesting way.

    WTF is a grrrl?

    We use the term “grrrl” (a blend of “girl” and “grr”) to reference the RIOT GRRRL feminist punk movement, a term coined in the Northwest U.S. in the 90s to disrupt the male-dominated punk scene and demand that attention be paid to the contributions of young women and queer people in creative spaces.

    Material Grrrlz aims to platform the work of young women and queer people in order to push back against misogynistic ideas about the value of craft. We invite anyone that feels a connection to girlhood and DIY to submit :)

    We particularly encourage submissions from queer and trans people (the ultimate DIYers ❣️)

  • 🌟 We champion human creativity and the work of human hands. Absolutely no use of AI will be accepted in pitches or final submissions

    🌟 All work must be original and unpublished

    🌟 Selected contributors will receive contracts licensing their work to Material Grrrlz exclusively for one year, non-exclusively thereafter