Writing Submissions

Writing submissions is a good way to get your message across and spark public debate about an issue.

Submission writing skills can be useful for both fundraising and lobbying. You can prepare submissions for institutions including:

• State, local and federal government departments.
• Your local community.
• Independent bodies such as the United Nations.
• Business and industry bodies.
• Foundations and other grant-giving bodies.

Key Writing Tips

To write a good submission you'll need up-to-date and accurate information. The main categories you may decide to break this information into include:

• Introduction and summary of what you are going to cover - key issues.
• What the submission is about.
• Why it's a good idea.
• The 'vital' facts.
• Why the audience you have chosen should be interested.
• What the problems/positives are.
• What you recommend.
• How you plan to go about it.
• What you want done.
• Who supports you - letters of support/quotes (try to have some
  supporters who are prominent in the community).
• What it might cost - budgets.
• How long you think it will take - timelines.
• Photos/maps/drawings.

Your submission can be as long as you like, however we recommend that you try to keep the 'key' information as succinct as possible and add any supporting documentation. Like writing a press release or giving a public presentation, you'll want your submission to be catchy, relevant, interesting and not too long and boring. There's no harm in using conversational language, and supporting it with the 'science and facts' - not everyone is an expert and you don't want to make the submission hard to understand.

Research

Your first step before writing your submission will be to research the topic and find as much relevant information as possible. Likely sources of information include:

• Speaking to people involved - interviews.
• Your local library for maps, acts of parliament, magazines.
• Parliament house for copies of recent legislation and other reports/submissions on the topic.
• Government departments.
• Your local council.
• Public companies - annual reports
• New Zealand Department of Statistics - for a wealth of facts and figures.
• The Land Titles Office.
• Universities.
• Media resources - newspapers, radio, TV, the internet.

Accurate Information

You should keep a good record of what information you obtained from where and whom. This is both for copyright issues and for issues of liability and authenticity. Everyone will see an issue differently. You need to make sure your submission includes the biases of arguments and their sources.

Presentation

Presentation of your submission can effect how it is received. Once you've written your submission and collected supporting information, it's a good time to enlist the assistance of your friends with desktop design and artistic skills to make the submission look good.

You can consider making the submission into a book, a poster, building a model or making a map to accompany it - the options are limitless. A slick presentation is a good way to spark media interest and demonstrate your passion for the issue.

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