Lizs, a question for you.

“I read your thread about you winning your newspaper awards and would like to have the opinion a "weiner". I would like to see my daughter's elementary school written about in our local paper. Do newspapers generally accept submissions from now staff writers for publication or should I contact the paper with a story idea and hope they send someone out?”

“Geobeet is an editor, he might be able to help you with that question also.”

“cool, thanks maple. What paper does he edit?”

“hi, been lurking here for a while and decided to finally post. I've edited a few local papers in UK and I'm working in U.S. now. All you have to do is call the paper and tell them you've got an event coming up - they'll then tell you what to do. Try and make it an interesting event and think about something that could make a good photograph. If they won't do anything on it then offer to send them a press release about the event and put a picture in when you send it. Most local papers are understaffed and appreciate people sending them stuff as it's quick and easy - the downside is that most people can't write in the correct style and the pictures can be pretty bad.”

“The advice given by the person above is good. Depending on the event, we will either send someone or ask the school to send us something.

If you have an idea of what you want to write and are a decent writer, offer to send them an article at no charge (those are magic words in these times of tight budgets).

I edit a weekly community newspaper, and we have a very small staff for the area we cover. So submissions from outside are not only welcome, but we can edit them a lot easier than get out to cover things. We have lots of schools we cover and just can't be everywhere at once.

Most editors are happy to receive submissions. Most community papers are filled with stuff that is sent in to them and edited for publication, or they would not exist. We serve, in a way, as a community bulletin board.

Hope this helps.”

“Thanks ynami and geobeet. That's what I was hoping to hear. I like to think that I am a fair writer when I put my mind to it. Just need to read a few community interest pieces to get the format set in my mind and then give it a whirl.

Our school is a year round program, but it is the inner city (actaully the edge of the inner city) and is under enrolled. The school board is threatening to take away the year round program if we don't meet enrollment goals next year. My wife and I were thinking of ways to enhance the reputation of our school and we think an article in the paper about our enrichment program and itinerant teachers (art/PE/music) would go a long way towards meeting that end.

Our music program is well stocked with equipment and the music teacher is very good. Their performances are excellent even without taking into account these are 5th graders and below. The PE teacher is planning to build a 9-hole, par 3 golf course on the school grounds. Our Art teacher has students who are winning State awards for excellence.

Anyway, thanks for responding. I'll get started on it right away.”

“You've got some good ideas there. When you write just make sure you hang the story around a piece of 'news'. There needs to be a reason to run a story, and in general, the fact that it is a great school is not enough (the other schools tend to want the paper to run a story about how great they are too). Be sure think of possible pictures. From what you've said kids swinging golf clubs next to an urban backdrop makes a good picture.”

“Wow, it's MY thread and I didn't even get to respond. *pout* lol

I was too busy with deadline, wouldn't ya know?? A story on the county bonding for $3.8 milllion for courthouse additions and renovations and how the automatic process could be stopped with a reverse referendum (Geo, you'll be happy to know I made that call to find out the number of signatures required. :-)

Very good advice given here. I mean, sometimes when we have no one around, we will just ask the school (who calls fairly often with ideas) to write something up and e-mail us a digital shot. Down side: ya don't know what you're going to get.

Does someone cover your school board on a regular basis, hyway? That should be a given. Anyhoo, I would jump all over that story about the school looking to potentially do away with the year-round program. Look at the pluses and minuses as seen by the board and maybe district teachers, residents, etc. See if you can get a paper on that!

And do write stuff up and submit. But try to spread it around, so it's not just YOUR kid. hehehe... And it sounds like that is what you want to do. The golf story sounds great, too.”

“Another idea... could you talk your local paper into doing a page for the school? Anywhere from weekly to once-a-month, or quarterly? It's a way to get the word out. Maybe round up some parents to write articles and do photos, so the paper has no expense. And tell the paper they can make money by selling the page to advertisers, cuz everyone loves to see their kids! Or get one big bank to sponsnor it, or a corporation, which would be a way to put faces with an otherwise "faceless" entity.

There, now you have more ideas.”

“To get the attention of an editor (in my experience) you need to have the most interesting and pertinent information in the first couple of paragraphs and then elaborate in the following paragraphs. Keep things to the point and don't bog it down with long explanations. If they are interested, they will contact you for more info. Too often I see a rambling press release or submitted story idea where you can't tell what the issue is. Be clear and concise.

In your instance, your school is under threat of being closed despite having a strong art/PE/music program. Under enrollment is a problem and unless it gets better, the kids will lose these great teachers and this great school. How you described it in this thread is pretty good. Just word it so it has a sense of urgency to it.

Just my $.02.”

“thanks for all the tips. I wasn't thinking about doing a story on possibly loosing the year round program at our school. I was thinking about just a puff piece basically just trying to sell the school. Your ideas sound better. It doesn't hurt that our school is 45% minority and closing the year round program effectively denies a large portion of the black community access to year round schooling. our district has 21 elementary schools. Three of them are year round. The other 2 are lily white, new schools located well away from the black communities. Of course, they aren't in danger of losing their year round program.

I think there is enough here to work with. Thanks”

“Good luck, Hyway”

“I think you better get a reporter to do the story on the potential for the school to close. You're way too biased as a parent there.

However, another idea: Write a Letter to the Editor, or an opinion piece. Get a group of concerned parents to write. Get them in area papers. Then get copies to people in charge of funding... the decision makers.

This is a perfect way to get your feelings on the program out there. Also, contact other media as well....”

“Heaven forbid that we have biased people covering the news ;)”

“Y'all aren't badmouthing FOX again ere ya? LOL”

“Heck no, I am glad that the right finally got a mouthpiece to match the Army of mouths on the left.”

“HAHAHHAHAhahahahahahahahahahahaha....”

“they just don't get it hyway....which is a good thing really....


good luck on the kid-story-school-golf club thang...”

“Hey! - Fox is "fair and balanced" they kept telling me that so it must be true.”

“They treat me pretty fair and that is what balances their checkbook.”