Aipa Convention

"AIPA Convention"

The Arizona Interscholastic Press Association (AIPA) convention was interesting and stirring because the sessions were educational, the registration was quick, easy; the location of the program was beautiful, well setup and fantastic. I, myself, attended three (3) wonderful sessions in which the first one was cancelled. I was disappointed when I found out it was "How to write stories that people want to read" session. However I had a successful day with both sessions that I am about to talk about.

To begin, the session called "Story Ideas, It All Starts Here" by Steve Elliot was the second session that I attended. Generally, this session was based on brainstorming, no depth of reporting, no elegance of writing, and no excellence of visuals. No diligence of editing can save a story that does not stem from a strong idea. In addition, where to look for ideas and how to focus attention, feasibility and how your audience's interests can help you identify subjects that turn out to be winning stories. As Mr. Steve Elliot talked, I took notes on how to bring about story ideas. Some of these are; the Foundation of Story Ideas (I.e. editing, writing, reporting, story ideas, and audience (target market); Classic Elements of News Value (I.e. timeliness, proximity, conflict/tension, prominence, and the two most important ones -- Human Interest and Impact <consequences>).

Ampadu-Siaw 2

Mr. Elliot also talked about what a strong story idea is like. A strong story idea is relevant to your target audience (fits with news organization's mission and follows past success), has news value, is focused and feasible. You must decide what is interesting or relevant when brainstorming a strong story idea.

How to focus the idea was also a major part of this session. Focus equals angle, angle equals the road map to your reporting and it often begins with a question. For example, "Is the principal stealing?" and "Does the principal set a bad example for the students?" To carry on, is it feasible? What is the deadline? Is the reporter capable of pulling it off? Also, is it troublesome politically or legally? These major points should be focused on when brainstorming a strong story idea.

To proceed, my last session I attended was "Writing Journalistic Style" by Deanne Hutchis. This session was basically about general rules for everything you write. For instance you are not supposed to use Mr. and Mrs. in writing but you use the position of the person and then the name of the person (I.e. Assistant Principal >capitalized? Hugo Hernandez, or Principal Debbie Ybarra); or if the person has a long position, then you write their name first and place the position of the person after the name (not capitalized). Make sure all your copy meets the standards