Evaluate a freelance pitch and decide whether to commission it
A quick editorial assessment of a pitch: news value, fit, feasibility, and risks, plus a commission or decline reply to send.
The prompt
Help me decide whether to commission a freelance pitch.
The pitch: [PASTE IT]
My publication and section: [NAME OR TYPE, audience, tone, what we typically run]
What we have run recently on this topic: [RECENT STORIES, or "nothing"]
Budget and rate: [OUR RATE OR BUDGET for this kind of piece]
Deadline needs: [when we would want to run it]
Assess the pitch on:
1. News value or timeliness: why now, and why our readers.
2. Originality: is there a new fact, access, angle, or voice, or is this already widely covered?
3. Fit with our section, format, and length.
4. Feasibility: does the writer have the access, sources, and expertise claimed? What would need confirming?
5. Reporting and legal risk: anonymous sources, allegations against named people, conflicts of interest, sensitive subjects.
6. Writer track record based on clips they have shared.
Return:
1. A verdict: commission / commission with changes / decline, with the reason in two sentences.
2. If commissioning: a short assignment brief (angle, length, deadline, sourcing expectations, fee, kill fee, rights).
3. Questions to ask the writer before committing.
4. A reply email: either the commission or a kind, specific decline.
Base your view only on the pitch and what I tell you. Do not assume facts about the writer or the story; mark anything to check as [VERIFY].
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Thinking & Decisions prompts
What to fill in
- PASTE IT
- NAME OR TYPE, audience, tone, what we typically run
- RECENT STORIES, or "nothing"
- OUR RATE OR BUDGET for this kind of piece
- when we would want to run it
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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