If you love writing and drinking as much as we do here at the Chicago Bar Project, then maybe you could be one of our new writers!
And get paid for it!
Thus, if you’re a fellow drinker with a writing problem, here’s what we request:
- Read these instructions or your review won’t be accepted and you won’t be contacted
- Submit at least 400 words on any bar in the Chicago city limits – a bar is defined as having a tavern license and stays open until 2am (some in the loop close earlier); we need new reviews of bars already on our website as well as those that aren’t – we’ll note any exceptions here as we start to accumulate reviews; suburban bars and restaurants in general may be covered at a later date
- Make it more interesting, creative and amusing than what you see on websites like Metromix and others (“boring” is thoroughly covered); bonus: include any interesting, funny and/or embarrassing stories about yourself, friends or family that relate to this bar
- Provide an intro with some kind of a hook to get you to read the whole damn thing
- Describe the location, interior and exterior – highlighting classic, quirky and intriguing bits
- Include at least one photo of the exterior, one photo of the bar and at least one photo of the interior beyond the bar
- Cover some degree of history, and the more the better – at least year opened, what it was before, etc.
- Include a conclusion with recommendations for when to go, what to avoid and other bars like it
- Use clever headings to break up the review into sections
- Email your review to this email address
Please do not contact us directly except for submitting your completed review – we’re sharing all of this for a reason!
We’ll review your submission and, if it meets our guidelines, we will contact you about payment, publish your review and photos and consider you for future submissions.
If multiple writing assignments are accepted over time, you may also be considered to be part of the second addition of Historic Bars of Chicago and possibly help guide the future of Chicago Bar Project beyond just the writing… but let’s start with one bar review for now.
Final Reminder: re-read the instructions again before submitting anything! We don’t want to waste your time (or ours).