by Your Name

Write a news or feature story on a topic of your choice.

Possible story ideas:

• Cover a sports event. Write about it and quote a coach, a player and a fan.

• Cover a presentation. Indicate what the person said, quote from the speech, provide context based on your research and quote two people who attended.

• Profile an interesting person. Why is this person interesting? Quote the person and tell her/his life story. Quote friends, family, coworkers, etc.

• Write about a person or family coping with the recession.

• Review an arts event. Describe it, quote the artist and quote two other people.

How to do it:

1) Lede. It may be straightforward or creative, anecdotal or summary, but the tone and focus must be appropriate to your topic.

2) Body of your story. You must include:

• Background. Explain the topic to a general audience. What led to the events your story describes? Provide names, events, dates, details.

• Nut graf. So what? Why is this news? Why should your audience care?

• A news peg. This can be a recent development, a connection to current events or a new discovery about an old topic.

• Quotes! You must interview and quote three people.

• Appropriate organization and transitions. Don’t just throw paragraphs together—write for flow.