Editorial and Submission Policy

Effective October 2024

Colorado Country Life magazine is a publication of the Colorado Rural Electric Association. The magazine is used as a vehicle for communication between CREA’s subscribing member cooperatives and their respective consumer-members. The magazine is made available to subscribers in print and an electronic format and may include associated web-based services under the same name.

The following Editorial and Submission Policy shall govern all submissions for publication in Colorado Country Life. By submitting written, photographic, or other graphic material for publication in Colorado Country Life, the submitting party agrees to be bound by and subject to the terms of this policy.

CREA reserves the right to modify or amend this Editorial and Submission Policy at any time. Authors are strongly encouraged to review this policy prior to making any submission for publication in Colorado Country Life.

Any questions regarding submissions or this policy should be directed to Kylee Coleman, Editor, at kcoleman@coloradocountrylife.org.

Editorial Control

CREA retains editorial control and control over the content of Colorado Country Life through its communications department. CREA has the right to accept or reject any submission for any reason in its sole discretion. Typically, CREA does not accept for publication submissions that consist primarily of partisan or political advocacy or that are for the promotion of the goods and services of the author or other commercial purposes, with the exception of paid advertising. CREA has the right, but not the obligation, to edit any submission for style or to conform to the guidelines set forth herein, with or without the prior consent of the author.

Publication Standards and Author’s Obligations

All written submissions should be delivered in an editable electronic format (e.g. Word or a similar word processing format) and should generally be free of grammatical and spelling errors. Authors are encouraged to follow the AP Stylebook.

All submissions shall be original and created solely by the author and must not infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any third party. CREA has a zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism in any material published in Colorado Country Life magazine. It is unacceptable to make minor changes to the work of another individual and pass it off as the author’s work. To the extent a submission includes quotes or other material taken or derived from the works of a third party, the author shall be responsible for obtaining the consent of the original author or creator of such material and ensuring proper attribution is given.

If any graphic material that is not the original work of the author is included in a submission (photographic images, diagrams, infographics, etc.), the author is solely responsible for obtaining the consent of the original creator of such content to permit CREA to publish it in Colorado Country Life. Authors may not incorporate images found on the internet in any submission, unless such images are identified as public domain, or the author has secured written permission from the owner or copyright holder to reproduce such images.

CREA will not publish graphic images that are created through artificial intelligence programs. Although artificial intelligence programs may be used to assist in the preparation of a written submission, written submissions that are generated in substantial part by artificial intelligence programs or other computerized algorithms may be rejected by CREA.

Author is solely responsible for ensuring the factual accuracy of all statements. Neither CREA nor Colorado Country Life editorial staff assumes any responsibility for verifying the factual accuracy of any statements set forth in the author’s submission prior to publication.

The author expressly represents to CREA and Colorado Country Life that the author is the owner of all written or graphic material submitted for publication, that the author has the right to submit it for publication, and that the publication of such material in Colorado Country Life would not violate the rights of any third party.

Written and graphic submissions shall not contain any defamatory, libelous, or obscene material, or material that would cast any person or entity in a false light.

Submissions shall not contain any material that constitutes a trade secret or other proprietary or confidential information of any third party without the express, written consent of such third party.

Author agrees to indemnify and hold CREA harmless from any claims or lawsuits of any kind that may be brought against CREA, its officers, directors, employees, or agents, including any costs of defense or settlement, any damages incurred, or any judgment that may be rendered against them, arising from or related to the publication of author’s submission.