Pitch for Trans+ History Week

We're investing in 20 Trans+ Creatives to help us mark the third Trans+ History Week in 2026, by making official content.

Trans+ History Week is a week-long reflective period to learn and celebrate the momentous and millennia-old history of transgender, non-binary, gender-diverse and Intersex people. Trans+ History Week CIC is a social enterprise to ensure its activity benefits the community, and it began as a QueerAF launchpad project.

It begins on May 04 2026, the 93rd anniversary of the Nazi raid on the world’s first trans clinic. It's the week they tried to erase us. It's the week we will be remembered. This is when our official article and illustration content will come out, the podcast will start shortly after.

There are paid commissions available for:

• 7 Writers and journalists
• 7 Illustrators and artists
• 6 Audio and podcast producers

All of these opportunities are to create content - but it's not just about capturing history. We believe history is a tool for liberation - these commissions will help our community understand what the stories teach about us about our future. Successful pitches will detail the lessons we can learn from history.

A Trans+ team will judge all pitches, alongside QueerAF and Trans+ History Week. Funding for this scheme has been secured in collaboration with Trans+ History Week CIC.

Who is this opportunity for?

We're particularly interested in hearing from unpublished, marginalised and emerging Trans+ creatives looking to build media careers for whom these schemes are designed.

The writing and podcast schemes in particular are designed to help and benefit individuals interested in developing media careers, whether in journalism, communications, or advertising - make sure that's you before you apply.

The illustration opportunity is designed to create artwork that tells stories of Trans+ history, by Trans+ people, due to a distinct lack of this representation.

We're based in the UK, and our priority will be towards UK creatives at the commissioning stage because that's where our mission to change the media is focused. However, we have a global outlook, so if you're applying from outside the UK, you'll need to be available to participate in meetings during GMT working hours (10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.).

The stories will be released in the build-up to, during, and after Trans+ History Week, so you should be prepared to turn the content around within the proposed timelines for each scheme.

What kinds of stories are we looking to tell?

The USP of our content is not just telling history - but sharing insights on what we can learn from it. Succesful pitches will be focused on what we can learn from the history story you want to tell.

Trans+ History Week develops guidance around four lesson themes each year.

That full guidance is published in January every year, and previous years are downloadable now.

This guidance is designed to make it easy for anyone in the LGBTQIA+ sector, media and organisations to talk about Trans+ history. Because these stories are already being told, they won't be a priority in the stories we select from creatives this year.

Each lesson theme has a topic, in 2026 they will be:

1. We’ve always been here: The Langi community from Northern Uganda
2. We can’t be erased: Shinjuku Boys, and a history of trans masc media
3. We’re stronger together: The Legacy of the Compton Cafeteria riots
4. We’re more than Trans+: Trans+ parents and families

If you're hoping to pitch a similar story, consider how it can go beyond the breadth of what we already have planned.

The opportunities

For Writers

We're looking for pitches for 700-1000 word history articles, we'll commission seven in total - one for each day of Trans+ History Week

• You'll get £175 stipend provided for the time spent taking part in the scheme
• Each commission will come with QueerAF's unique communication and journalistic 'Retro' skills session - described as like "therapy, but for your writing" - designed to put you in charge of your edit.
• They should be 'think pieces' in format, which aim to be thought-provoking and speculative. They will consist chiefly of background material and analysis and can contain some 'expert' and evidence-based opinion.
• We're looking to tell history stories, but we're interested in focusing on the lessons from them.
• We're looking for your perspective on history, so the topic you pick will be strongest if it's based on your experiences and viewpoint.

To pitch, you'll need to provide some examples of previous work, a working headline and four to five bullet points about what your article will cover.

One of these bullet points should tell us how the piece will conclude with what learning there is from this history lesson. Here are some examples.

For Illustrators

We'll be matching Illustrators up with the seven successful journalists to bring their history stories to life in an illustration

• You'll be paid at a rate of £250
• You'll bring to life a historical story told in an article by one of our commissioned journalists and writers.
• You'll be provided with a draft of the article and some background material to produce your illustration - which can be created in your preferred style but will need to be submitted digitally if created 'offline'
• It will primarily designed for the article in a landscape format, with a 'safe' portrait area for social media use.
• The fee will grant us a perpetual license to use the work, alongside promoting the article and the initiative on QueerAF and Trans+ History Week platforms. You'll retain the IP and your moral rights. It will see the illustrations used in campaigns for the week on social media, alongside the articles and, like last year, on billboards and massive screen places like Outernet, elevating your work and credits across national media.

To pitch, you'll need to provide some examples of previous work and answer a couple of questions on what this opportunity will mean for you and why you're passionate about Trans+ History.

Here is what those collaborations looked like last year.

For Audio Producers

We're looking for pitches for 20-30 minute mini-documentary podcast episodes in the format of the award winning QueerAF podcast series from creatives that are looking to build audio, podcast and multimedia careers.

• You'll be provided a stipend of £500 for your time on the scheme, and be provided with audio equipment you can keep for life to help produce the episode.
• Each commission will come with QueerAF's unique 'pitch to invoice' mentoring process, including a 'Retro' skills sessions designed to help you build your audio production skills, as well as put you in charge of your edit.
• You will host and produce a scripted episode with audio from one main interviewee and at least two supplementary voices. They will contain some sound design, and the QueerAF team will support you with the executive production and mastering of this.
• We're looking for your perspective on your topic, and the Trans+ history that informs it, so the topic you pick will be strongest if it's based in your experiences and viewpoint.
• The best pitches will blend a mixture of learning about sexuality, romantic orientations and gender identity (whether your own, or in a broader community way) with lessons and stories from Trans+ history that provide an active and clear lesson for now - your pitch should tell us how the piece will conclude, with what learning there is from the story you'll tell.

To pitch, you'll need to provide some examples of previous work, a working title for your episode, four to five bullet points about what your podcast will cover, and the 'dream' guests you'd interview - plus some more accessible suggestions.

You can be early on in your audio editing career, but you should be prepared to edit in Adobe Audition and have a basic understanding of how to use it. You can edit on a different platform if you are highly proficient in it, and this is agreed at the start of the scheme.

We encourage you to listen to at least three different QueerAF podcast episodes to get a feel for what they sound like before pitching.

They have a unique sound and feel, and each episode is hosted by a different queer creative. They are narratively scripted documentaries, not interview podcasts, so make sure your pitch matches our format.

Here are examples from last year's series.

The guiding principles of our official content:

This week is about apply learnings from Trans+ history in our present.

All the stories we tell will be guided and ensure:

1. Our joyful stories are just as important as our traumatic ones.
2. All stories have a learning we can apply in our present.
3. Our intersectional community guides commissioning through tools and forums.

For even more inspiration, check out these articles:

It’s time for the Trans + history lesson we never had

Introducing Trans+ History Week: Knowledge of our past is fundamental to our liberation. It’s how we shut down the lie we’re a modern invention

QueerAFMarty Davies

This Nazi book burning happened at world’s first trans clinic

Book burnings are a historic image many of us recognise. But the connection to the transgender community is little known.

QueerAFMarty Davies

We’re launching a Trans + History Week. Join us

Let’s collect, platform and share trans+ history stories and, crucially, make them readily available.

QueerAFJamie Wareham

What is QueerAF?

We help you understand the LGBTQIA+ world and support queer creatives to change the media. We're a not-for-profit publisher.

We're an award-winning independent platform launching the careers of emerging and underrepresented LGBTQIA+ creatives driven by people, not advertisers.

Ultimately, QueerAF is a platform where creators, journalists and producers can get paid and commissioned directly by the QueerAF community. This while we mentor you to build a career, work in the industry - and then change it.

We're a not-for-profit and IMPRESS-regulated publisher who has locked our profits and assets into the LGBTQIA+ community.

We're here to invest in queer creatives and help QueerAF talent succeed - just like we're doing with our first launchpad initiative - Trans+ History Week.

Pitch now -

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