Submissions are the individual contributions that make up a newsletter issue. Each is written by a staff member, tagged to a section and reviewed by the editor before publication.
How submissions work
The workflow:
- Editor opens the next issue and confirms the section structure.
- Contributors get notified — staff with submission permissions for a section see Submissions due on their dashboard.
- Contributors write submissions — they add content for the section they own.
- Editor reviews — approves, edits, or rejects each submission.
- Editor publishes the issue when all submissions are in.
Writing a submission
Contributors go to Newsroom → News Items → Submit.
The submission form has:
- Issue — which issue the submission is for (usually pre-selected to the upcoming one).
- Section — which section within the issue.
- Title — the heading of the contribution.
- Intro / summary — short preview text (1-2 sentences) shown above the full content in some layouts.
- Content — the body. Rich text — headings, bullet lists, formatting.
- Image(s) — supporting images. Add captions and alt text.
- Bio image — optional photo of the contributor.
- Author byline — name and role of the writer.
Submit. The submission is queued for editor review.
Editor review
Editors open the issue’s submissions tab and see every submission with status:
- Pending — newly submitted, not yet reviewed.
- Approved — accepted for the issue.
- Rejected — declined, with a note back to the contributor.
- Needs revision — editor wants changes from the contributor.
For each pending submission, the editor can:
- Approve — content goes into the issue.
- Edit — adjust wording, headings or images directly.
- Reject — provide a reason; the contributor sees the reason.
- Request revision — send back to the contributor with a note.
Quick submissions
For schools where contributors don’t want to learn a separate form, PortalHQ supports lightweight quick submissions — contributors send a content snippet via email or copy-paste, and the editor enters it into the issue.
The quick-submission workflow is faster but loses the contributor’s authorship metadata (their bio image, byline) unless the editor adds it. Suits one-off contributions; less suited to regular weekly contributors.
Publishing the issue
Once all submissions are in and approved:
- Open the issue.
- Preview the email and web versions.
- Choose Publish.
PortalHQ:
- Generates the email and sends to the configured recipient lists.
- Generates the web page on the school’s newsroom.
- (Optionally) generates a PDF version.
Publishing is a one-step action — but plan ahead. Once you’ve published, you can’t unpublish the email send.
Scheduling
Like campaigns, issues can be scheduled rather than published immediately:
- Pick a future publication date and time.
- Save.
PortalHQ publishes automatically at the scheduled time. Use this so you can finalise the issue on Monday and have it go out Tuesday morning without manual intervention.
After publishing
- The email send proceeds — recipients start seeing it within minutes.
- The web page is live on the school’s newsroom archive.
- Stats start accumulating (open rate, click rate) and are visible in the issue’s report tab.
For corrections after publish, see Building an issue with sections.
Tips
- Set a clear submission deadline. Without one, contributors leave it to the last minute. Submissions due Wednesday 5 pm is non-negotiable.
- Chase missing submissions. A nudge on Wednesday morning to anyone who hasn’t submitted prevents Wednesday-night panic.
- Edit consistently. A house style guide (sentence case, no exclamation marks, “Australia” not “Aus”) makes the issue feel cohesive.
- Approve early to encourage early submission. Contributors who get a quick approve are more likely to submit early next time.