Canberra Cyclist magazine |
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About Canberra Cyclist magazine
Canberra Cyclist is published every two months by Pedal Power ACT ™ to disseminate news and articles about the organisation to members and a wider audience, to record Pedal Power ACT activities, events and official business, to provide articles of interest to members (primarily in relation to pedal-cycling transport and recreation, health and fitness) and to allow advertisers to get their message to the readership.
Contributions to Canberra Cyclist in the form of articles, letters and photographs are gratefully received.
Advertisements are welcomed from businesses and private individuals (members may include small advertisments free of charge).
Canberra Cyclist is distributed to:
- Pedal Power ACT members (about 9,000)
- ACT elected representatives and their advisers (Territory and Commonwealth)
- ACT and Commonwealth bureaucrats in areas related to pedal cycling, active transport, health and related areas
- ACT libraries
- Other pedal-cycle organisations (transport, recreation, advocacy and sport) in the ACT and other parts of Australia.
Over 4,000 people read the Canberra Cyclist (estimate).
Opinions expressed in the Canberra cyclist are those of the respective authors and are not necessarily those of Pedal Power ACT.
Submitting an article for publication
Canberra Cyclist welcomes receiving appropriate articles and photographs for consideration for publication.
Guidelines for preparing an article and/or image for publication are given below.
We do not pay for articles or photographs.
- We prefer short, concise articles that are likely to be of interest to the readers (people who ride pedal-cycles and/or provide infrastructure or other provisions for cycling).
- Start the article with a good hook. In the body, show why the article idea is unique and important for the reader. Ensure your story has an angle. Be concise, urgent, clear and enthusiastic about the article topic in about three paragraphs.
- Think creatively. Don’t repeat the same words in every sentence. Vary the vocabulary. For instance, instead of perpetually using word ‘important’, use ‘‘key’, ‘essential’, etc. Avoid cliches unless they can be manipulated to sound clever.
- Make sure the story flows with good sentence structure and grammar, no spelling mistakes and correct terminology.
- Include photographs or other images to enhance and supplement the text.
Include charts or tables as appropriate.
Article content and length
Articles should not exceed 1400 words (about one page) and desirably be up to 500-600 words maximum (about one column).
Cover only one theme in an article. If you have more themes, write a separate article on each theme.
Accompany your article with appropriate photographs, other images, charts and tables as appropriate.
Style guidelines
The style of articles in the Canberra Cyclist follows the Australian Government Style Manual, and in particular:
- Numbers under ten to be in words
- Numbers up to 10000 do not have comma separators, thereafter comma separators are used
- Use single quotes (‘) not double quotes(“)
- For quantities use the SI (Système International d’Unités) units and symbols (they are not abbreviations), and include a space between the numbers and units; eg 10 m, 35 km/h and 35 °C. Common units and symbols are:
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Photographs and other images
Include good (and appropriate) photographs or other images (eg, graphs or tables) enhance any article. Articles with poor or no photographs are less likely to be published.
Sometimes a photograph with an appropriate caption (telling a story) will be published without any accompanying article.
If the photograph requires acknowledgement please advise (with the caption).
Tables and charts
Tables and charts can be useful in presenting data to readers. Use them as appropriate.
Prepare tables in Word or Excel.
Charts need to be in photo file format.
Assistance in writing a story
We can help if you have a good story but find writing difficult.
Email the editor with details (including your phone number) and we will get a reporter to contact and interview you. Then, if there is a suitable story, we will write an article. We may ask you to submit your photographs or images separately – with captions.
Submitting items for publication
Submit all articles, photographs and other images, tables as electronic files (in the formats given below) as attachments to an email to the editor before the closing date for submission.
Individual emails (with attachments) are to be less than 8 MB – large files clog up our ‘in box’. If necessary use a number of emails.
Include ‘Canberra Cyclist’ in the email subject line.
Include your name and phone number in the email. If the editor cannot contact you to clarify an item, then the article may not be published.
Large files, over 8 MB (usually photographs or advertisments), can be delivered on a CD or USB flash memory stick to the editor. To get the address of the editor email Pedal Power ACT ™ office or phone 02 6248 7995.
Normally, we do not return submitted items.
Note: The editor may edit articles submitted for length, clarity, style or legal reasons. If you do not want your article edited, advise the editor with your submission. If you do that, the editor may print the article as submitted, return the article with a request that you rewrite it (all or part), or not publish it (and may not advise you).
Submission of text for articles
Submit text of all articles must be in electronic format in plain text format (*.txt) as an attachment to an email (not in email text please). Note, if you can not convert your text into a plain text document, a rich text format file (*.rtf) is acceptable – but text is preferred.
Include the caption of each photograph or other image at the bottom of the article text and reference the caption to the photograph or other image file name.
Do not waste your time doing excessive formatting as most will be lost when it is imported into the publishing software.
Formatting that will be retained includes:
- Boldface
- Blank lines (please do not have any blank lines in the text as the editor has to remove them)
- Bullet lists
- Hyperlinks (please do not use as they are of no use in the magazine, just give the address in plain text)
- Indents (please do not use as the indent formatting is part of the magazine style)
- Italics
- Special characters (those provided with Microsoft Word)
- Strike-through
- Subscript
- Superscript
- Tabs (please only use for tables, see submission of table for articles )
- Tables (see submission of table for articles)
- Underline (please do not use as it is not part of the magazine style)
Any other formatting you include in the text is lost when the text in imported into the publishing software for inclusion in the magazine.
Remove all blank lines, indents, tabs (except in tables), underlines and hyperlinks.
Do not include any photographs or other images or tables in your text – it makes using the text difficult and reduces the resolution of the image and the quality of the photograph.
Headers and footers (including page numbers) should be excluded as they will not be published.
Submission of tables for articles
Submit each table in a separate file in Word, Excel (only include the table) or RTF (rich text format). Any borders will not be imported into the publishing software, so not not spend time on borders.
Consider using tabs in the text for simple tables.
Charts produced in spreadsheets are to be submitted in a photo file format.
Submission of photographs and other images
Submit photographs and other images (charts, maps, etc) as separate files in a photo file format (e.g., *.tif, *.jpg or *.gif) or a ‘press quality’ PDF file.
Do not embed, or copy and paste photographs, into a text document as it makes using the text difficult and reduces the resolution of the image and therefore the quality of the photograph.
Photograph and other image files should be large size (the largest available for the photograph or the image), at least 300 dpi (dots per inch) and in CMYK colour.
If you can not convert you photograph or other image to the required format, submit it is as large a file as possible (straight from the camera).
All photographs and other images must have a caption (and any acknowledgement required) supplied at the bottom of the article text (or in a separate text file) and be referenced to the photograph or other image file name.
Submission of line art (charts, graphs, etc.)
All line art must be delivered in as an electronic file in print quality PDF or in a photo file format suitable for printing.
If you can not get the file into the correct format, then submit it as an Illustrator, Photoshop, QuarkExpress, or PageMaker file. Simple line art can even be created in Word and PowerPoint. If you have any questions about the suitability of the software you are using to create line art, please email to the editor.
Advertising in Canberra Cyclist
Advertise in the Canberra Cyclist and:
- Get your message and image to people who ride bicycles in the ACT and the surrounding region
- Educate readers (and their friends) them about your products or services
- Improve awareness of you products or services
- Move readers (and their friends) closer to making a purchase
- Increase the frequency of purchases by readers (and their friends)
- Improve you image within the cycling community
The cost of advertising is quite low.
Canberra Cyclist page size is A4 and advertisments can be up to full page size or any part thereof.
NOTE Members of Pedal Power ACT may submit small personal advertisments relating to pedal-cycling (eg, sale of a bike) free of charge.
Advertisement requirements
Advertisements are to be in digital files meeting the following requirements. Files that do not meet these specifications can not be used:
- Print quality PDF files
- All fonts embedded
- All elements in CMYK colour – not RGB or spot colours
- Images to have an effective resolution of at least 300 dpi
- Trim size to be correct for the printed size
- Provide a 3 mm bleed on all sides of advertisement – this is in addition to the trim size
- PDF files to include a single page – spreads or multi-page PDF files can not be used
Pedal Power ACT ™ cannot take responsibility for accurate colour reproduction.
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Pedal Power ACT ™ can not accurately reproduce an advertisements if:
- Fonts are artificially stylised
- Font sizes are below 8 points for solid text or below 10 points for reversed or non-solid text
- Text or other content is placed outside the live type area
Suppliers of advertising are responsible for checking the quality and integrity of their files before submission to Pedal Power ACT. We do not check the content.
If you have any questions regarding the availability of locations available for advertising within the Canberra Cyclist or in relation to advertising for the Canberra Cyclist, please email the editor.
Submission of advertisements
Submit all advertisments as electronic files (in the required format) as an attachment to an email to the editor before the closing date for submission.
Individual emails (with attachments) are to be less than 8 MB – large files clog up our ‘in box’. If necessary use a number of emails.
Include ‘Canberra Cyclist’ in the email subject line.
Include your name and phone number in the email. If the editor cannot contact you to clarify an issue, then the advertisement may not be published.
Large files, over 8 MB, can be delivered on a CD or USB flash memory stick to the editor. To get the address of the editor, email Pedal Power ACT office or phone 02 6248 7995.
Normally, we do not return submitted items.
Cost of advertisements
| Size & position | Cost $ |
| Front cover | Not available |
| Full page outside back cover | $425 |
| Full page inside front or back cover | $375 |
| Half page outside back cover | $250 |
| Half page inside front or back cover | $200 |
| Full page anywhere else in the magazine | $300 |
| Half page anywhere else in the magazine | $200 |
| Quarter page anywhere else in the magazine | $120 |
| Column (or 1/3 page) anywhere else in the magazine | $150 |
Inserts in the Canberra Cyclist
Inserts (flyers, etc) can be included in the Canberra Cyclist.
Costs for including inserts depend on their size and weight.
To discuss further, email Pedal Power ACT ™ office or phone 6248 7995.
Articles and copy submission deadlines
Articles, photographs or other images and advertisments are required by the editor one a month before publication as given in the following table.
The deadline for the rides and events calendar is one week later than given in the following table.
| Edition | Copy submission deadline* | Distribution target |
| February – March | Last day of December * | Before the end of January * |
| April – May | Last day of February * | Before the end of March * |
| June – July | Last day of April * | Before the end of May * |
| August – September | Last day of June * | Before the end of July * |
| October – November | Last day of August * | Before the end of September * |
| December – January | Last day of October * | Before the end of November * |
* Please check for any changes (that do occur especially when the editor is away) on the calendar, by email the editor, by email to Pedal Power ACT office or by phone to the office on (02) 6248 7995 during office hours.
