WRPA Today Magazine

Editorial Calendar copy and photo/artwork due  September issue: July 10, 2008

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Welcome to WRPA Today – the magazine!  This quarterly magazine is provided to parks & recreation professionals as a benefit of membership in WRPA. We are seeking interesting articles, photos and special feature ideas for our new publication.  This is a great opportunity to share with one another your knowledge and experience and to showcase your profession, agency or organization.  Articles that are well written, relevant, and touch on parks and recreation topics and trends will be highly considered for publication, though space limitations will dictate the use of all articles and photos.  All items submitted for publication will be reviewed by the Public Relations Committee.  Please contact the editor, Brit Kramer at 360.459.9396. 

For submissions, please take a look at our editorial calendar for deadline dates.  We are looking for written articles from professionals in the field - in the areas of boards and commissions, section chairs, district representatives, standing and special committees.   Great new program ideas, trends and best practices, research topics and professional development features are some of the submissions needed.

Please let us know some areas that you would like to hear more about or an article that you would like to contribute. Something that inspires or moves you and others in your agency or organization will make the magazine interesting and keep the reader’s attention.

We prefer articles to be about 250 to 800 words.  With today’s information overload and time constraints, the longer the article, the more likely that many readers won’t finish it.  To stir the reader’s attention and interest, keep the text simple and straight to the point.

2008 Editorial Calendar - copy and photo/artwork due

March:  January 10

June: April 10

September: July 10

December: October 10

Guidelines to Submitting Articles for WRPA today 

Content
The lead is the most important part of a story.  The lead is the first two or three sentences of the story that should be kept brief – about 25 words or less.  In a report, a feature can have a one paragraph lead, if it contributes to the article and captures the main point of the topic.  However, the lead must get and hold the attention of the reader.  Please send articles as Word documents or text files, attached to your e-mail.  Remember to include author credit at the end. 

The editor reserves the right to edit in a reasonable manner for grammar, spelling, and punctuation following journalistic conventions, if necessary.  If there are any questions regarding content or if any major changes seem necessary, the editor will contact the author first.  The author’s byline will appear on the article and the author will retain copyright.  When submitting an article, please include author credit at the end of your document.  However, WRPA reserves the right to repeat publication of any article (or portions of any article) in later issues or on the Web site or other professional publications after notifying the author prior to publication.

Articles submitted must include the basic five W’s
Traditionally, the five W’s – who, what, where, when, why – are the elements of a lead.  They should still be, when writing a report, news article or an announcement. However, they also have to be included in other stylistic forms of articles, but does not always have to be placed in the lead.  The lead of a feature has to capture the reader and the rest of the article should not let the reader stop until the end.  Articles have to be written in a coherent form, easy to understand, with valuable information and preferably surprising for the reader.  The text needs to “flow” which is one of the most important features in effective writing.

What makes an outstanding article? 

·         It is well written and flows.

·         It contains all correct facts and information.

·         It is entertaining, interesting and informative.

·         It has an element of surprise.

Headline
Articles should be titled with an eye-catching headline that teases the reader to read the article.  It should be a brief group of words usually in large type to introduce and summarize the content of the article.

Photos
Articles should be accompanied with high quality photos.  Use appropriate images to support the content of the article, preferably as a TIFF or JPG file (with a resolution of 300 dpi in the original size) in an e-mail or on CD.  Otherwise, prints on photograph quality glossy paper sent to the editor will be scanned (inkjet or laser prints cannot be used).  Quality of photos will be a strong consideration in determining their use.

Photos that are dark (resolution less than 300 dpi), blurry or otherwise inappropriate for publication will not be considered for use.  Photos may be sent as prints (minimum of 5 x 7 inches) or digitally via e-mail (e-mail preferred).  Photos sent digitally must be JPEG or TIFF files, and each high resolution photo must be at least 5 x 7 inches at a minimum 300 dpi.  Please be sure to obtain permission before submitting copyrighted images.

A Call for Cover Photos!
A full-color cover photo reflecting the season will be featured on each issue.   Photos selected for the cover will represent a member, agency or organization.  To submit cover photos for consideration (up to two per agency), please contact Colin Walker, Bellevue Parks & Community Services, 425-452-7248, for more information.

High quality parks and recreation photos are needed!  Photos considered for the magazine cover must be of the highest resolution (no smaller than 2.5 megs file size).   All submissions will be reviewed by the WRPA Public Relations Committee.

Another publication option is to have a quality photo featuring an event in your agency or community.  Just send us a photo with a 2 or 3 sentence cutline.  Cutlines are best sent as a Word document or text file attached to your e-mail, with an indicator for which photo or artwork you are describing (ie. “jpg1216 is a photo of. . .”).

Include in the cutline the basic five W’s: 

·         Who is that?  (identify people from left to right unless the action in the photo demands otherwise)

·         What’s going on?

·         When and where was this?

·         Why does he/she/it/they look that way?

·         How did this occur?

WRPA Public Relations Committee:  Scott River, Colin Walker, Sara Olson, Brian Meyer, Charles Sablan, Casey Stanley