Westland, This Is Your Paper. Now Tell Your Story.
Voice of Westland is opening the newsroom to the people who live here because the best stories aren't always found at City Hall.
WESTLAND, MI Who knows Westland better than the people who live here?
The person who has watched the same pothole grow for three years.
The parent who knows what's happening at their child's school.
The neighbor who has watched a vacant property change hands.
The coach who sees what local kids need.
The business owner who has watched a neighborhood change.
The resident who attended a City Council meeting and left wondering, "Did anybody else hear that?"
Those are stories.
And Voice of Westland wants to hear them.
This paper belongs to Westland's residents
Voice of Westland was built around a simple idea: local news should actually be local.
That means we don't want this to be a newspaper that simply tells you what happened.
We want to give Westland residents a place to tell us what is happening.
That's why we've created our Write a Story feature.
Write and submit your story to Voice of Westland
If you have something worth telling, write it up and send it to us.
An editor reads every submission.
According to our submission guidelines, stories are generally reviewed within a day or two. If we publish your story, we may clean up spelling or trim it for length but we won't change what you said. Published submissions appear under your name and are identified as a reader story. If we decide not to publish a submission, we'll tell you why.
What should you write about?
Almost anything that matters to Westland.
Your neighborhood
Have you noticed something happening on your street?
Is there a problem that nobody seems to be addressing?
Is something great happening that deserves attention?
Tell us.
Your school
Did your child's school accomplish something special?
Is a teacher going above and beyond?
Did students organize something worth celebrating?
We want those stories, too.
Your business
Opening a new business?
Celebrating an anniversary?
Changing locations?
Doing something interesting for the community?
Tell Westland about it.
Your sports team
Little League. High school sports. Rec leagues. Club teams.
If Westland kids are doing it, we want to know about it.
Your community
Fundraisers. Events. Neighborhood projects. Community groups. Volunteers.
Don't assume someone else will tell us.
You can.
Your experience with City Hall
Did you attend a public meeting?
Did you have an interaction with the city that residents should know about?
Do you have questions about something happening in Westland?
Write about it.
Just remember: tell us what you know, stick to facts you can support, and give people involved a fair opportunity to respond when appropriate.
You don't have to be a journalist
This may be the most important thing we can tell you:
You don't have to be a professional writer.
You don't need a journalism degree.
You don't need to know how to write a newspaper headline.
You don't need perfect grammar.
Just tell the story.
Write it the way you would explain it to your neighbor.
Our editors can help with spelling, grammar and length. According to our submission guidelines, we won't change what you're saying when we prepare an accepted reader story for publication.
Want to publish? Here's all you need.
It's deliberately simple.
If you want your story published under your name, you'll need to create an account.
That's it.
You need:
An email address
A password
Nothing else.
Create your Voice of Westland account
Once you're signed in, you can submit your story.
Don't want to create an account? That's okay, too.
Maybe you have information you think we should know, but you don't want to write a story.
Maybe you've seen something that deserves investigation.
Maybe you have documents.
Maybe you have a tip about something happening in Westland.
You can tell us without creating an account.
Voice of Westland has an anonymous tip line for exactly that purpose. The submission page specifically directs residents who don't want an account to use the tip line.
Send an anonymous tip to Voice of Westland
This is bigger than a submission form
There is something important happening here.
For decades, local newspapers had reporters everywhere.
They went to school board meetings.
They attended neighborhood meetings.
They knew the business owners.
They knew the coaches.
They knew the streets.
They knew the people.
But a newsroom can't possibly be everywhere.
You can.
There are thousands of Westland residents living their lives every day. You're at the parks. You're at the schools. You're at the businesses. You're driving the streets. You're attending meetings. You're talking to your neighbors.
You see things we don't.
And sometimes you are the story.
So don't wait for us to find it.
If something matters to you, there's a good chance it matters to somebody else in Westland.
Write about it.
Tell us what happened.
Tell us why it matters.
Tell us what you think people should know.
And if you aren't sure whether it's a story?
Send it anyway.
We'll decide.
Because this isn't just a newspaper about Westland.
It's a newspaper for Westland.
And ultimately, it belongs to the people who live here.
Your street.
Your school.
Your business.
Your neighborhood.
Your voice.
Tell Westland.
WRITE A STORY → voiceofwestland.com/submit
Voice of Westland reserves editorial discretion over what it publishes. Reader submissions may be edited for spelling, grammar and length, and published submissions are identified as reader stories. Anonymous tips are reviewed separately by the newsroom.
