Note: The submission deadline for this issue and podcast has ended. We are going to continue this as a regular feature so please use the email address sharemydream@dreamofitaly.com to continue to share your Dream of Italy with us.
It feels like the only thing we can hold onto these days are our dreams…so let’s write about and talk about our Italian dreams! I know Dream of Italy viewers, readers and listeners have had some of the most incredible experiences in Italy. We’ve published 170 issues of our award-winning travel publication but YOU know about so many hidden gems that I (or the fabulous contributors to our publication) don’t know about and what better time to share them!?
For years, I have dreamed of putting together a crowdsourced issue of Dream of Italy (here’s a sample issue if you haven’t seen it) and now that we also have the Dream of Italy Podcast, for those who don’t like to write but can talk (haha), we’re compiling a crowdsourced episode. I need your help. There’s no better time to share our love for Italy and get lost in a little project that has us digging deep into great memories.
What comes to mind when I ask you to finish this phrase: When I Dream of Italy, I Dream of…
- Is it the hearty taste of the sfugato (stew) at Badali in Florence?
- Is it spending time with a shepherd/poet in the mountains of Abruzzo?
- Is it the joy of making the recipe of a Tuscan grandmother’s delicious Torta della Nonna?
- Is it staying in colorful house on the Venetian island of Burano?
Share your dream by submitting one of the following and your work may appear in a special crowdsourced issue of our publication or podcast episode:
- Article – around 350 words on a specific place, experience, person, meal, view etc. in Italy you dream about
- Photo Essay – you can include photos with an article submission or a photo/photos with explanations for a photo essay
- Recipe – recipe from Italy or an Italian-American tradition and a few paragraphs on the story behind it
- Soundbite for Podcast – up to 40 seconds (can be shorter) of audio of you telling us about your dream – can be general or specific
**If we use your contribution of an article, recipe, photo or podcast recording, you will receive a six-month membership/renewal to Dream of Italy with access to 170 back issues ($47 value). **
Please email your submission (see guidelines for each category below) to sharemydream@dreamofitaly.com by May 27, 2020. The sooner you submit, the better chance you have for appearing in the issue or episode. If we have a large number of submissions, members will have preference.
**The submission deadline for this issue and podcast has ended. We are going to continue this as a regular feature so please use the email address sharemydream@dreamofitaly.com to continue to share your Dream of Italy with us. If selected you will be awarded with a 6 month membership/renewal to Dream of Italy. The contest for the 3-night stay in Florence and Italy Itinerary Planning as expired.**
You do not need to be a professional writer! It is the recommendation you make or picture you paint that is the focus and we can work on the rest. I will be reviewing all of the submissions personally. For the ones I choose to include, I will email you about edits and details and it is likely I will work with you personally on the article or script if needed. So don’t be shy!
Obviously, we want to include places and experiences that we have not covered in previous issues. You can do a search on the name to see if anything comes up or members can look through our articles based on location, topic. As always with Dream of Italy content, we love geographic diversity and our readers want to learn not only about the more popular destinations like Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast but regions like Calabria and Friuli.
We welcome submissions from everyone, including Italians, and those who run businesses related to Italy. (But we ask that you don’t write about a place or person with whom you have a direct financial relationship.) If you would like, your byline will include the name of your business or website!
If you need some help writing your article or podcast script for Dream of Italy, or even if you are just curious about travel writing in general watch my Facebook Live Travel Writing Tips.
And I’m doing another Facebook Live on Tuesday, May 12th to talk about writing for the crowdsourced issue/episode and about where our Italy dreams are taking us at the moment!
Guidelines and Hints For Submitting to Dream of Italy’s Crowdsourced Issue and Episode
Submit An Article (Even Better If You Have or Can Get Photos)
This is your chance to highlight YOUR Dream of Italy and help other travelers plan future trips. Please write about ONE specific “dream.” It can be a meal, restaurant, local, piazza, view, hotel, agriturismo, tour, experience, garden, vineyard, villa rental, tour guide, museum, shop, cafe, small town, market, etc.
READ A SAMPLE ARTICLE THAT I WROTE ABOUT A SPECIFIC EXPERIENCE
- Keep the article tightly focused on one place, person, experience. Attend or watch the Facebook Live for more tips.
- Include detail, detail, detail. Paint a picture and write about the five senses: taste, touch, sound, smell, sound. Attend or watch my Facebook Live for more hints at crafting your article.
- We want to include experiences we haven’t covered before so the more unusual, the better. Members can look through our articles to see what we’ve done or send a note to sharemydream@dreamofitaly.com to check on your idea before you start writing.
- You may write in the third person or first person but keep in mind the beginning starts with “When I dream of Italy, I dream of…”
- At the end please include contact/travel information for your dream such as address, phone, website, rates.
- Please let us know if you have at least one high-resolution photo of your dream (better yet, send it along in the email). High-resolution is generally the original file size from your iPhone or camera. Or we may be able to source a photo if you don’t have one.
- Don’t write about something with which you have a direct financial connection.
- You are welcome to submit more than one article or an article and podcast recording. Entry into the contest to win a stay in Florence or an itinerary is one per person. If more than one of your submissions are used though, you will only receive one membership.
Please email your article (and photos if you have) to sharemydream@dreamofitaly.com by May 27, 2020. The sooner you submit, the better chance you have for appearing in the issue. If we have a large number of submissions, members will have preference.
**The submission deadline for this issue and podcast has ended. We are going to continue this as a regular feature so please use the email address sharemydream@dreamofitaly.com to continue to share your Dream of Italy with us. If selected you will be awarded with a 6 month membership/renewal to Dream of Italy. The contest for the 3-night stay in Florence and Italy Itinerary Planning as expired.**
This category is for photos that are the main focus of the “dream.” It can be one photo or several photos that would make up a photo essay. We expect these shots to be professional or near professional quality as the photo(s) rather than the words are the focus.
- Photos must be high-resolution. That basically means the original file from your iPhone/camera.
- Be sure to include a written explanation of the photo(s) about where they were taken and how they embody, “When I dream of Italy, I dream of…”
- You must be the person who took the photos.
Please email your photos and descriptions to sharemydream@dreamofitaly.com by May 27, 2020. The sooner you submit, the better chance you have for appearing in the issue. If we have a large number of submissions, members will have preference.
**The submission deadline for this issue and podcast has ended. We are going to continue this as a regular feature so please use the email address sharemydream@dreamofitaly.com to continue to share your Dream of Italy with us. If selected you will be awarded with a 6 month membership/renewal to Dream of Italy. The contest for the 3-night stay in Florence and Italy Itinerary Planning as expired.**
Submit A Recipe
This is a wonderful opportunity for professional and at-home chefs, cooking schools and food mavens to share their tastes of Italia. We are also very interested in Italian-American recipes that celebrate how families adopted their traditions to their new homeland.
- Please write a few paragraphs about the recipe as an introduction. Here’s an example of a recipe with a backstory. If it is a family recipe, tell us about its origins and how and when your family serves it, how it might be tied to a geographic location. If it is a recipe you learned in Italy, tell us where and how or how your Italian experience might have inspired you to create this recipe.
- Make sure your recipe is in American standard measurements such as pounds, cups, ounces, tablespoons, Fahrenheit, etc. as our audience is predominantly American. This app can help with conversions. There are also many websites that have calculators.
- Please let us know if you have good quality, high-resolution photos that we can use (or better yet – please send them along in the email) or if we decide to publish the recipe, let us know if you would be willing to make the dish and take some photos.
- Be certain that you have the rights to this recipe, that it is your creation or that it has been passed down in your family. (If it is a recipe you learned at a restaurant or cooking school, let us know and maybe we can ask the original creator for permission but you can also tell us why the recipe means so much.)
Please email your recipe (with photos if you currently have any) to sharemydream@dreamofitaly.com by May 27, 2020. The sooner you submit, the better chance you have for appearing in the issue. If we have a large number of submissions, members will have preference.
**The submission deadline for this issue and podcast has ended. We are going to continue this as a regular feature so please use the email address sharemydream@dreamofitaly.com to continue to share your Dream of Italy with us. If selected you will be awarded with a 6 month membership/renewal to Dream of Italy. The contest for the 3-night stay in Florence and Italy Itinerary Planning as expired.**
Submit A Podcast Recording/Script
We’re putting together an entire podcast episode sharing what YOU dream of when you dream of Italy.
The recording should start out with:
I’m [your name] from [geographic location or business name]
When I dream of Italy, I dream of…
[Then tell us about your dream, it can be general – a list of dream activities – or specific. Paint a picture. Think about the five senses: sight, taste, sound, touch, smell]
LISTEN TO A SAMPLE SOUNDBITE THAT I RECORDED:
Sample script for above:
I’m Kathy McCabe from Dream of Italy, when I dream of Italy, I dream of…
A small restaurant kitchen in the postcard perfect town of Savigno in the green hills of Emilia-Romagna.
The sounds of meat sizzling and jazzy music playing fill the background.
I’m here with Nonna Anna, who makes up for her small stature with her giant cooking power.
Our energetic, frenetic passionate mutual friend Alessandro Martini Italian Days Food Experience has brought us together for this Italian grandmother to teach me to make her recipe for ragu. If I promise not to share, Anna whispers her secret ingredient – the meat from the heel of the prosciutto.
This was based on an experience I had in the Bologna episode.
- Please record up to 40 seconds. Alternatively you can email us a written script and if we want to use it we will be in touch with you to record it.
- For recording, be sure to go into a quiet place (closets are great) and use the microphone on your phone or computer.
- Don’t tell us about something with which you have a direct financial connection.
Please call our Google Voice number at 202-713-5085 to leave a recording (also please send and email to let us know to look for it and so we have your contact info.) or send a voice memo from your phone to sharemydream@dreamofitaly.com by May 27, 2020. You may also email a written script if you prefer. The sooner you submit, the better chance you have for appearing in the issue. If we have a large number of submissions, members will have preference.
**The submission deadline for this issue and podcast has ended. We are going to continue this as a regular feature so please use the email address sharemydream@dreamofitaly.com to continue to share your Dream of Italy with us. If selected you will be awarded with a 6 month membership/renewal to Dream of Italy. The contest for the 3-night stay in Florence and Italy Itinerary Planning as expired.**
Rules
- Open to all worldwide age 18 or older. If your child would like to make a submission, please email us at sharemydream@dreamofitaly.com We would love to have kids perspectives because kids love Italy too but would need your permission and you would be the entrant.
- You must submit at least one complete article, photo essay, recipe or podcast script/recording (submission/entry) adhering to the guidelines above by May 27, 2020 to be entered to win the 3-night stay with Your Place in Florence or the 7-day Italy itinerary planned by me. Prizes must be claimed or used by December 31, 2021 and are subject to availability. You are responsible for any taxes on your winnings.
- Entries/submissions must be your original work and not previously published elsewhere. You verify that all of the information in the submission is accurate. Entries/submissions may not contain anything defamatory, obscene, illegal or otherwise inappropriate.
- No many how many content submissions you make, the limit is one entry per person for the random travel drawing.
- The random drawing for entry prizes will be held May 29, 2020 and winners will be notified via email.
- By submitting your content, you license Dream of Italy (Dream of Italy, Inc and/or Dream of Italy Productions, LLC) exclusive rights to edit, publish and use all content in any format in all media. You will be awarded a six-month membership to Dream of Italy (without bonuses) in return ($47 value) for these exclusive rights. Dream of Italy is under no obligation to publish submissions/entries.
- Be sure to include your name and any company name or website you would like to run with your submission/entry if chosen.
- If significant edits to your entry/submission are needed, Dream of Italy will do its best to inform you and work with you on approving wording, but is not obligated to do so.