Family day care is a unique, home-based childcare service providing quality care for children in the homes of family day care carers, supported by a local specialist coordination and resource team. Family day care provides learning and development in a safe, secure and stimulating home environment for babies and children up to 12 years of age.
when can I apply?
Family Day Care Australia accepts submissions throughout the year.
Alternatively, writers can pitch their stories by email first. Your pitch should be one or two paragraphs and contain an angle, a list of potential interviewees if applicable and whether photographs and/or illustrations are available. If we like the idea, we’ll call or email to discuss it further.
word count
Articles are 500 words for a single page and 1,200 words for a double page. While longer articles may be published by pre-arrangement with the Editor, initial submissions that are outside the stated lengths will not be considered.
house format
• All spelling is Australian-English
• Use multiple line spacing at 1.1 and 6pt after paragraphs
• Use Century Gothic font at 10pt
• Use single space following full stops
• Use single inverted comas for quotations
• Do not use ampersands (&), instead write the full word ’and’
• Write numbers one to nine as words and numbers 10 and above as numerals
• When referring to carers please list them as family day care carers
• If you want to emphasise a phrase or word, use italics rather than underlining. Readers assume underlined text is a hyperlink.
• Titles of books to be presented in italics
• Use non-stereotypical language and situations wherever possible, ie authors should avoid the use of sexist, ageist or racist terminology. Don’t use fireman when you could use fire-fighter.
• Don’t use generic ‘mother’, she or her when discussing children’s care when you could use a male parent or carer
• The use of metric measurement is preferred overview article style guide submission process
All successful applicants have the following in common:
• Their experience is interesting or relevant to family day care
• Their articles present sufficient ‘stand alone’ information to the reader
It is useful, then, for you to consider your ability on these fronts. If you doubt any of them, it's highly likely we'll feel the same! This may seem strict, but we know raising the bar is necessary to maintain our high quality of content and avoid wasting time - yours and ours. Read on for more tips on how to get our attention.
what we require
We ask potential contributors to supply an article which complies with these guidelines. Those selected will also be asked to supply an image of themselves to accompany their article. A professionally shot, head and shoulders shot is preferred, but not essential. It is essential, though, that the image supplied is a minimum of 300dpi in resolution.
Contributors’ Agreement
Once your article has been accepted for publication, we will send you a vontributors’ Agreement, detailing the terms of publication. where to send submissions Submissions should be sent as a Microsoft Word or RTF document attached to an email. Contributors must ensure their submissions are their own original work and that publication by Family Day Care Australia will not contravene the rights of any third party.
Send submissions to: marketing@fdca.com.au
More information here.
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