About Canberra Cyclist magazine

The Canberra Cyclist magazine is published every two months with news and information about Pedal Power activities, programs and events, and topics of interest to the cycling community.

Contributions to Canberra Cyclist are gratefully received and advertisements from businesses and individuals are welcome.

Canberra Cyclist is distributed to:

• Pedal Power ACT members (about 7700)
• ACT elected representatives and their advisers (Territory and Commonwealth)
• ACT and commonwealth government officials in areas relating to 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.

An estimated 4,000 people read the Canberra Cyclist.

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 submissions of articles for consideration for publication.

When preparing an article, consider what length would best fit the topic you are writing about, using the guide below:

Half page article - 400 words

Full page article - 800 words

Double page spread - 1500 words

Guidelines for preparing an article and/or image for publication are given below.

• 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, and charts or tables as appropriate.

Style guidelines

Articles in the Canberra Cyclist follow the Australian Government Style Manual.

Photographs and other images

Photographs and 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 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.

Making a submission

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

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.

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 

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 

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
• Sizes as below:

Pedal Power ACT cannot take responsibility for accurate colour reproduction. Pedal Power ACT can not accurately reproduce an advertisement 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.

Submit all advertisements 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 and 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.

Advertising Prices

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.

Submission deadlines

Articles, photographs or other images and advertisements 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.

* Estimated dates only as changes can occur