Contacts: webmaster@awate.com

FAQ On Article Submission To Awate.com

What is an article?

An article is a “written work published in a print or Internet medium. It may be for the purpose of propagating the news, research results, academic analysis or debate”, according to wikipedia (which doesn’t publish articles, by the way, just “entries.”)

How long is an awate.com article?

It should be about 1,200 words.  But good luck finding an article that short; people here usually take twice as long as average to say what we want to say. Somebody should write an article about this phenomenon. (using 1,200 words or less.)

But does anybody read the whole article?

Hmmmm.  That’s why you should structure your article that you place your most important points in the first few paragraphs.  And provide your email address so readers can give you feedback.

Does awate.com edit articles?

We will choose a heading for the article.  And we will conduct minor edits, but no re-writes.

Besides the written word, can I submit contributions like audio, cartoons, video, etc?

Yes, of course.  With this caveat: we take a hardline position against copyright violations and art that is in poor taste.  If you have an audio or video, post it to youtube first, then provide us the link.

What do you mean by “poor taste”?

We know it when we see it.  Hint: that picture of Isaias Afwerki with horns and dracula fangs, and blood dripping…that is really in poor taste.  It is not like we like the guy, but come on, a little creativity goes a long way.  Elevate the art if you can; if you can’t, nothing wrong with taking the time to practice.

Why don’t you communicate with Eritreans in their own languages? What is the point of publishing in English, a language which is alien to Eritreans?

Yes.

I am serious!

Well, we also publish Arabic and Tigrigna articles.  But the chosen medium for awate.com is English. Always was, always will be—at least until the Google webbots learn our languages. The EPLF/PFDJ has had a 30 year head start on propagating its false narrative about Eritrea; we are playing catch up. In 10 years we have made a dent; we will need more time to offer a counter-narrative that cannot be avoided by scholars researching Eritrea. But you are most welcome to translate the English articles, news pieces, editorials into Tigrigna, Arabic or any Eritrean language, and you don’t need our permission for it.  Just volunteer for the task.

What are your criteria for publishing and/or rejecting articles?

Articles that are well-written, relevant, insightful will be chosen over articles that are poorly-written, terribly short, terribly long.  Articles that have been submitted by the author to another website will not be published.

But I have seen articles that were published at awate.com also appear at another website!

We cannot unpublish a writer simply because another website, which usually has no original content, decided to cross-post his/her article without his/her consent.  We can’t punish an author for the transgression of a website.

Oh, that’s nice.  But why do you always only publish articles that are critical of the Eritrean government?

You mean the Eritrean mafia regime. Yes, we are an “OPPOSITION” website and we are about publishing opinion which is not allowed to be published, broadcast or even uttered in the police state of Eritrea.

Yes, but isn’t that censoring? I thought you were about “freedom of expression.”  What about the freedom to praise the Eritrean government?

Your heartfelt concerns for the rights of this poor individual are quite touching but such an individual can express his/her freedom at shabait.com, shaebia.org, Hadas Ertra, Eritrea Alhaditha, alenalki, biddho, east afro, ethiopian review, meskerem.net.

But that is still censorship!

Not really. We are even providing you links to them; you can go read what they have to say. Just make sure you shower before you visit awate.com.

But I have seen articles that appear at awate.com also appear at Ethiopian websites. Coincidence?  Hmmm? Are you in cahoots? Is there a conspiracy….?

Yawn.

Yawn?

Sorry, we didn’t know we were doing that out loud.  It is spontaneous reaction to boredom.

How soon does an article get published after it is submitted?

It depends. Some might take a few days. We allow for the lag time because authors usually have edits they would like to do after they submit the article and rather than asking us to edit their work, we would like them to resubmit a new one.  The gaps are longer if the submission is by the same author.

What happens to articles that are rejected?

Nothing. We do not notify the author why it wasn’t published: generally, it is because it was too long, too short, too poorly written, irrelevant, or full of ad hominem attacks.

Where do I send my article to?

articles@awate.com

Any special format?

A word document (NOT pdf), preferably a 11 Calibiri font type (the default for Word 2007 and Word 2010.) No coloring or tabs please.

Can I embed pictures, graphs, etc in the article?

We prefer that you send that in a separate file.

What if I want to safeguard my privacy?

Look at our tagline: inform, inspire, embolden, reconcile.   The movement towards emboldening Eritreans will not make much progress if people choose to hide behind pen names.  But if you must (and you might have good reasons or no reason at all), we will allow you to use pen names, we will protect your privacy but awate.com has to know your contact information.  We won’t disclose your identity, but we have to know it.

So you know the identity of all your writers, even those using pen names?

Yes. Including those who rail regularly against the irresponsible use of pennames.

Do you compensate authors for their work?

Yes, of course! We have an automated email response which says, “thank you for submitting an article to awate.com.”

How do I post public announcements?

Post it at our Awate Comments section

Posting Guidelines

General: The purpose of the comments section is to provide feedback to the author and to facilitate discussion on issues raised by the author of the article.  Try to stay on topic. All comments are moderated.  If there is a delay in posting your comment, it is either on cue to be moderated and/or it is in violation of one of the posting guidelines and has been sent to the trash bin.

1.  Register your user name and email address in the comments section following the articles.  (Your email address will not be shown.)
2.  Use one user name.  Don’t register multiple times. Attempts to tip the balance–giving your arguments the deceptive sense that they are shared by many others when it is just you writing under different user names–will result in warning and then suspension.(Easy for the moderator to find out by checking your ip address.)
3.  Use proper posting protocol: address your audience by name.  Do not use abusive language.
4.  Use appropriate, family-friendly language.  Foul language is not allowed.
5.  It is ok to criticize a political ideology but it is not ok to attack a collective identity (race, ethnicity, tribe, region, religion, etc).  Doing so will result in immediate suspension/ban.