Listen is a magazine primarily aimed at teenagers, but some younger and many older readers are subscribers as well. It encourages development of good habits and high ideals of physical, social, and mental health. It bases its editorial philosophy of primary drug prevention on total abstinence from tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. Because it is used extensively in public high school classes, it does not accept articles and stories with overt religious emphasis.

Published monthly, 16 pages, four-color. Circulation: Listen is a classroom tool. Actual printed copies each month about 20,000; estimated reader exposure approximately 100,000. Reports in eight weeks. Pays on acceptance. Listen buys rights to publish in Listen, in subsequent reprints and advertising excerpts, and where indicated in our guidelines portions are used on our Web site. All material is copyrighted on publication. Enclose an SASE with all submissions and queries if you want your material returned. We accept simultaneous submissions--just tell us in the cover letter and notify us if it is sold elsewhere after we accept it. Submissions via e-mail should be sent to editor@listenmagazine.org.

Listen regularly seeks professionally written, teen-oriented articles from 350-750 words. Listen is comprised of the following types of freelance articles:

PERSONALITIES AND CELEBRITIES: For our Personality Features, articles focus on teenagers and adults who, because of their achievements as well as their wholesome, upbeat, drug-free lifestyles, may serve as positive role models for Listen's teenage readers. Subjects may come from everyday life as well as professional or amateur sports, the entertainment world, or public life. The personality piece will follow a blog format in 2009-2010. We would like personalities (if they are willing) to sign our Listen pledge which can then placed on their article. Sometimes during the course of an interview you might be provided with pictures to pass along to us. If so, that would be great. If not, please obtain the name and contact information of someone who can provide pictures and send that information to our designer, Bill Kirstein, at bkirstein@rhpa.org. Personality articles pay $200-250 and are 700 words.

LIFE SKILL ARTICLES: With this kind of article, Listen offers positive, practical skills teens can use in challenging situations to help them cope with everyday conflicts and develop self-esteem. Subjects may or may not have a direct connection to drug use. Recent topics have been handling spare time, coping with depression, handling stress, overcoming self-centeredness, coping with military deployment, building a résumé, dealing with abuse, getting along with a stepparent, forgiving friends, etc. As a companion piece to this feature, each month our Web site will provide a real-life situation on the topic featured in the magazine. Our expert will explain how the situation can be safely handled and teens will be encouraged to submit how they have handled, or how they would handle, the situation. Life Skill articles should include three separate sections. The piece for the print publication is 750 words and should include an introduction to the subject and an implementation element involving (if possible) at least 3 learning styles. For example, as a take-away exercise on the topic of tolerance they could: journal about an incident in which they were intolerant of someone else or someone was intolerant of them, they could reach out to one person who they perceive as different from themselves, they could draw a poster featuring positive tolerance messages. This section should be a brief "here's what you can do to take this topic to your world" kind of segment and is included in the 750 words. The third section is a real life situation, which should be open ended so teens can respond, for publication on the Web site and is 100-150 words. Payment for all three sections is $125-175.

RAP SHEETS: These two short one page spreads feature three elements:

1)    A brief overview of the drug/behavior featured.
2)    A true anecdote demonstrating the danger of the drug.
3)    Pertinent, current, information about the drug.

The purpose of the rap sheet is to present the dangers of a particular drug or behavior and bring teens up to speed on ways a particular drug has evolved into a new, and usually even greater, threat. An example of this would be the new combination of heroin and certain OTC cold medications such as Tylenol PM which contain acetaminophen and the antihistamine diphenhydramine creating a new drug called “cheese” heroin.

These articles should present current, accurate information on the nature and effects of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. They should not include the street names for drugs, side effects of drugs, and statistics. Due to their unchanging nature, those elements will become a permanent part of our Web site. Check our current theme list to see exactly what we are covering any given year. Topics vary somewhat. Rap Sheet articles pay $175-225 together and are 350 words each.

FACTUALS: These articles should present current, accurate information on the featured drug or behavior. They may contain true anecdotes if they clearly communicate the negative consequences of the drug/behavior, quotes by professionals, and examples or descriptions of legal repercussions of involvement with the drug/behavior. They should not include street names for drugs, side effects of drugs, and statistics. Due to their unchanging nature, those elements will become a permanent part of our Web site. A variety of reliable sources should be quoted. If printed material is quoted hard copies of the article or book must be mailed and received before payment is made. (Mail to: Céleste Perrino-Walker, Editor, Listen Magazine, P.O. Box 1005, Rutland, Vermont 05701. PLEASE NOTE: Article submissions sent to this address will be returned without being read. Please use our submission address for all submissions.) Check our current theme list to see exactly what we are covering any given month. Topics vary somewhat. Factual articles pay $100-150 and are 700 words.


SPORT/HOBBY: These articles should offer readers activities that increase one's sense of self-worth through achievement and/or involvement in helping others. They are often categorized by three kinds of focus:
1.    Hobbies—Recent subjects have been scrapbooking, Space Camp, coin collecting, writing Haiku, and blogging.
2.    Sports—Listen has recently featured articles on balance boarding, hiking, trampolining, and Geocaching.
3.    Clubs—The Civil Air Patrol and the Red Cross Youth Corps are examples of the types of organizations or clubs that have a positive impact on teens and have recently been covered in Listen.
Sport/Hobby articles pay $100-150 and are 650 words.

ALERTS: Our back page features a current, emerging drug or behavior of concern, or will present a problem solving tip or resource. Portions of this text will be posted monthly to Facebook users who are members of our cause to make them aware of new potential dangers on the drug scene and/or new problem solving tips or resources. Alerts pay $80-100 and are 400 words.