Getting My Info Into The Crimson White— A FAQ For Student Organizations Who do I send information to? What “desk” do I send my information to? What’s the difference between a news article, a news brief and an announcement? How do I know if my information is “newsworthy”? What does timely mean? How do I know if my information is relevant? My organization uses social media—how can I connect with the CW on Twitter/Facebook? Is “online exclusive content” as good as getting something into the paper? What information should I provide when I send the CW my information? When can I expect to be contacted by the Crimson White? How far in advance should I send my information to the CW? Do I have any other options to get my information out there to students? Who do I send information to? If you have a contact within the Crimson White who has written articles about your organization before, or who writes about similar topics, you can send your information directly to this person. Otherwise you will want to send your news to the appropriate “news desk” (see next question below). What “desk” do I send my information to? News: This is a large desk that incorporates most student news on- and off-campus.

• Email: news@cw.ua.edu; • Editor: Will Tucker; Assistant Editors: Patty Vaughn, Hannah Mask

Lifestyles: This includes arts, entertainment, nightlife, music and cultural news • Email: lifestyles@cw.ua.edu • Editor: Kelsey Stein (kmstein@crimson.ua.edu)

Sports: Anything sports related. This includes intramural, club, major campus sports and can also include recreational sports.

• Email: crimsonwhitesports@gmail.com • Editor: Jason Galloway

Calendar: If you have short news or an announcement for a meeting, this might be the best place to send your information.

• Email: calendar@cw.ua.edu What’s the difference between a news article, a news brief and an announcement?

• Article: This is a full-fledged article. It will generally be 500-800 words and include quotes from 3 different sources.

• News Brief: This is shorter than an article and requires fewer sources. If you don’t think you have enough information for a full article, this may be your best option.

• Calendar event/Announcement: The CW regularly runs tidbits about organization’s upcoming or ongoing events. We can also add it to one of our online or print calendars.

How do I know if my information is “newsworthy”? Newsworthy is a term journalists use to describe the relevance and appropriateness of potential articles. Newsworthiness is evaluated based on relevance, interest, unusualness, prominence, impact, proximity and timeliness. Not every piece of news has all of these, but it’s important to try and make your news fit as many categories as possible What does timely mean? Timely means current. So make sure that you send the Crimson White your information at least 2 weeks in advance of your event. If you don’t share your news until a day or two before it is to occur, it most likely won’t get coverage. How do I know if my information is relevant? If your club is having a movie night in someone’s dorm room and only 6 people can fit, that probably isn’t relevant to the general student body. If your organization is having a movie night at the Riverside Community Center with free refreshments and dozens of students can attend, that is more relevant and has a better chance of being published. Make your news as open and interesting to as many students on campus as possible. My organization uses social media—how can I connect with the CW on Twitter/Facebook? The Crimson White would LOVE to connect with you on Facebook (www.facebook.com/TheCrimsonWhite) and Twitter (@TheCrimsonWhite). If you want to post a video or event your organization made on our Facebook wall, please do! Just make sure to use your best judgement—we don’t want spam and we reserve the right to delete it if we think it is inappropriate or “spammy.” If you want to tweet us (on Twitter), we’ll do our best to make sure we retweet it! Share your information with us however you like! Be social! When you do get coverage in the Crimson White, your story will be on the Crimson White website: www.cw.ua.edu . Find your story online and click the “Share” button to share the story about your organization via Facebook or Twitter. This helps spread the word on your organization! Is “online exclusive content” as good as getting something into the paper? The print edition of The Crimson White is limited to how many pages it can be based on the number of ads our advertising department sells on any given day. So sometimes we don’t have as much space to work with as we’d like. We have to decide which stories are the most important/relevant to the most students. If your story ends up as exclusive to the website, thousands of people will still see your story. As mentioned above, visit the website and “share” your story through your Facebook and Twitter accounts to reach even more of your friends and followers.

What information should I provide when I send the CW my information? In addition to the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of your event/story, you should also provide the following info:

• Your full name, year in school and major • At least 1 working cell phone number • An email address—That you check regularly! • Optional, but helpful: Names and contact information of other people that might

be useful sources for the reporter When can I expect to be contacted by the Crimson White? Reporters and editors are students and have classes and homework as well as their CW duties. The earlier you provide the CW with your information, the earlier you will be contacted and the better your chances are of having an article written. You might be contacted a week in advance, or a couple of days beforehand. Maybe not at all. We’d like to cover everyone and every event, but the reality is we just can’t do that. How far in advance should I send my information to the CW? It varies, but a good rule of thumb is to send us your information 2 weeks before your story or event takes place. Do I have any other options to get my information out there to students? The University has a few options for you to share your news

• UA News: UA News is sent out weekly to students. It is run through the office of University Relations. To submit your information to UA Student News, use this link: http://uanews.ua.edu/submit-student/

• Crimson Calendar: You can submit your own events to the Crimson Calendar

(http://events.ua.edu). Click the link and follow the instructions on the site for submitting an event to the calendar. Lots of reporters, both with the University and with bigger media, check the student news and Crimson Calendar for news ideas/stories.

• The SOURCE Calendar: Calendar for student organizations maintained by The

SOURCE.