Call for Contributors, Nominations, and Pitches
We produce various publications and events that are dedicated to engaging, inspiring, and expanding a sustainable global specialty coffee community—and we're always looking for contributors to share their knowledge and expertise!
We are actively seeking pitches from and nominations for academics, industry leaders, journalists, writers, researchers, and other contributors of all backgrounds, especially those whose voices are often underrepresented in our industry.
If you are interested in pitching for a specific speaking role or publication rather than recommending, check out our open “Call for Contributors” below or dig into “How to Pitch” (writers) or “How to Nominate” (speakers/presenters) for more information. We also recommend checking out our editorial guidelines and house style guide.
The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) call for contributors is inspired by “How to Pitch Stories to Eater,” an honest and thoughtful guide for freelancers hoping to work with their publication.
Presenting Opportunities (Events)
Re:co Symposium | Re:co (Regarding: coffee) is a unique event designed for high-level discussion, leading innovation and strategy development for those passionate and influential in the world of specialty coffee. Through engaging discussions, interactive experiences and a gathering of speakers from around the world, Re:co looks at all aspects of the specialty coffee market — from the challenges we face to solutions we can create to approaches for growth and development through collaborative conversations. See previous Re:co presentations.
Specialty Coffee Expo | The Specialty Coffee Expo was designed to be the coffee professional's one stop shop for everything they need to succeed in the coffee industry. As the industry's standard setter, the SCA has built a solid reputation over the last 30 years of providing the most up to date, qualified information and providing our members the tools to succeed.
World of Coffee | Travelling to a different European city each year, World of Coffee is the essential event for coffee professionals – drawing a loyal audience from the global specialty coffee community.
Sensory Summit | Sensory Summit is a virtual conference and sensory education platform designed to educate, inform, and inspire specialty coffee professionals who taste coffee professionally. We focus on sensory science, state of the art sensory evaluation techniques, skills development, consumer research, quality improvement, and learnings from wine, beer, and food science. Participation in the event includes sensory experiences, actually performing tasting experiments and doing skills development using coffees, tools, and foods.
Coffee Retail Summit | A live, virtual event with corresponding resource library, Coffee Retail Summit is dedicated to the specialty coffee retail marketplace. Our next event aims to offer a variety of presentations, interviews, and discussions that address some of the opportunities and challenges facing retailers of all shapes and sizes across three specific geographic markets: the US, the EU, and South Korea.
Green Coffee Summit | Green Coffee Summit is a space and virtual event for anyone involved in the green coffee trade to find reliable, actionable knowledge about coffee markets. Our forthcoming event aims to offer a variety of presentations, interviews, discussions, and videos that explore the characteristics of different consuming markets designed to help buyers and sellers of specialty green coffee develop a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing them today.
Publication Opportunities (Writing)
SCA News | A living collection of valuable content that reflects the SCA’s mission, work, and membership, SCA News features stories on coffee research, sustainability, education, business, and culture written for and by specialty coffee professionals. Please note that we do not offer coverage of press releases—but we think you should definitely submit these to our media partners!
25 | Named in honor of the 25 million coffee-producing families around the globe, the SCA’s biannual publication, 25, connects people from our specialty coffee community around the world through research, stories, and insight. See features from previous issues of 25.
Guild Blogs | The SCA is home to three global trade guilds made up of members dedicated to three key specialty coffee professions: Barista Guild, Coffee Roasters Guild, and Coffee Technicians Guild (EN/IT).
Submit a Pitch, Nominate a Speaker, or Request a Topic!
We know that our community values the SCA's content as an educational and informational resource, and we're always looking develop and curate our programming in line with the needs and interests of our communities. That's why the SCA has a perpetually-open call for contributors!
Please use this form to nominate a writer or presenter, pitch us a specific story or presentation, or just let us know that you're interested in learning more about a specific topic. Submission to this form does not guarantee that the SCA will commission the writing or presentations you've shared here. We review all these submissions on a monthly basis, and there is a clear fit between your idea or contributor and a forthcoming event or publication, we'll be in touch directly to learn more. Some content, like our lecture programming, may require significant additional information at a later date through a focused call for proposals.
For an overview of the kinds of content the SCA commissions across its different publications and events, please explore the information available in the open calls listed above. To keep up to date with the specific calls the SCA has open at any given time, please follow us on social media or sign up to our newsletter, "This Week at the SCA." Alternatively, you are very welcome to email us your leads to editor[at]sca[dot]coffee.