Letters to the editor should be restricted to 500 words or fewer.

You may submit a letter to the editor by e-mailing Steve Cahill.

You may also mail letters to:
11710 Plaza America Drive

Suite 420

Reston, Va., 20190

Include your name, address and telephone number. If you are a member of a group or organization, and are writing about an issue on which that group has taken a stance, please include a sentence explaining your affiliation with that group.

How do I submit a photo to The Fairfax County Times?

If you wish to submit digital photos, please use the following guidelines.

• Images from most digital cameras will work. Most cameras produce JPEG files, which work well for us.
• Please don't crop the photos or do any color correction; we will take care of that.
• Send the photos to us by e-mail.
• Please attach the image files to your email message; don't send Word files with embedded photos.
• Include all the caption information for each photo in the text of your email. Include the names of all the people in each photo, tell us what is going on, where the photo was taken, when it was taken, and any other information that may be of interest.
• E-mail your photos to Shamus Fatzinger.

How should I request permission to reprint a story from The Fairfax County Times?

Businesses, nonprofits and individuals seeking to reprint stories, beyond a copy for personal use, must make the request in writing. In general, the request must include the date the story appeared, the headline, the edition and a description of how the reprint will be used, such as "for our internal membership newsletter, circulation 10,000 copies." E-mail editor Steve Cahill.

How should I link to a story from FairfaxTimes.com?

If you would like to place a link on your site to an article on FairfaxTimes.com or include FairfaxTimes.com headlines on your site, you may do so without getting electronic publishing permission from us as long as the text on your site is limited to the title, link URL and 200 words or fewer quoted from the story in your summary. Your link should also credit The Fairfax County Times as the publisher.

Example of how to link to an article on FairfaxTimes.com:

The code and text below shows how to add a free link to a FairfaxTimes.com article to your site.

Example with coded headline and introduction:

Deeds, McDonnell take off the gloves
Creigh Deeds and Bob McDonnell broke little new ground during their third of four formal debates in the Virginia gubernatorial race. The Fairfax County Times - 10/13/09

The first paragraph of the code above is the linked headline, with URL. The second paragraph should be the story introduction, if available, or your summary of the article. In creating your summary, you are not authorized to quote more than 200 characters, including spaces, from the article. Please add The Fairfax County Times and the date of the article to your citation.

Example with coded headline only:

Deeds, McDonnell take off the gloves
The Fairfax County Times - 10/13/09

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How do I submit an obituary?

You may e-mail news obituaries to editor Steve Cahill.

To place a paid obituary, call 571-209-5139.

How do I place a wedding, engagement or anniversary announcement?

The Fairfax County Times prints engagement and wedding announcements, along with photographs, at no charge, as a community service.

To mail an announcement:Text should be typed, with a daytime phone number included. Photos should be professional quality. Wedding announcements should be submitted no later than six months after the wedding.

E-mail announcements to Lorin Buck, fax them to 703-437-6019, or mail them to 11710 Plaza America Drive, Suite 420, Reston, Va., 20190.

How can I obtain a printed copy of a paper?

The Fairfax County Times typically keeps print copies of newspapers for six weeks following publication. To obtain a copy of a paper published within the past six weeks, visit the office. Call first to confirm that the office has the desired copy.