Life4U and Accent Staffs Announced

I am excited to announce that the staff for the 2009-2010 Life4U and the Spring 2009 Accent have been chosen.



Everyone on this list has direct experience and has demonstrated both the skills and the dedication needed to create excellent publications.



In other words, these teams rock!

Spring 2009 Accent Staff

• Editor-in-Chief - Sarah Neve
• Assistant Editor - David Rodriguez
• Campus Editor - Chris Smith
• Layout Editor - Chris Scott
• Photo Editor - Hanlly Sam
• Intern (Design and photo) - Karissa Rodriguez
  

2009-2010 Life4U Staff

• Lead Designer - Chris Scott
  
• Lead Writer - Sarah Neve
• Lead Photographer - Alma Hernandez
• Lead Artist - Karen Kuhn
  

Life4U Freelancers

• Trevor Goodchild - Writing and Photos
• Anny Ibarra - Writing, Illustration
• Karissa Rodriguez - Design, Writing, Photos
• Hanlly Sam - Photos
• Chris Scott - Design
• Devon Tinknell - Writing

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Meeting the Challenge of the 21st Century Art Students

Here's part one of an interesting discussion about preparing for tomorrow's creative jobs. It's made by McCallum high school and features leading Austin creative professionals.



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Use your work to help you get a job

Do you see the light at the end of the tunnel yet?

As the darkness of the workload brought on by the end of the semester subsides, and you can once again see the light in the future, consider taking the following steps to maximize how much benefit you can receive from all of the hard work you have put into the Accent this year.


Here's how it happens

The editor from a major local publication is surfing around the net for other coverage of some of the stories that her publication has covered (because we all know editors have lots of time to do such things). She happens upon your article or photo on theaccent.org and thinks "wow, this student journalist got better interviews than my staffers did, better photos, and I like the angle he took also."

Impressed, she clicks on your byline. Since you have updated your profile, she finds a nice photo of you, a link to download your resume, a brief (50 word max.) description of your professional qualifications, and links to everything you have published in the Accent.

Impressed again, she views a few more of your pieces and thinks to herself "you know, this guy might be perfect to fill that vacancy that will be opening up next week." She then clicks on your resume link.

Extremely impressed, she reads over the well-crafted resume. She then notices that you have a link to your LinkedIn site on your resume document. She clicks on it.

Now she's sold. After looking through your professional site, she requests to join your LinkedIn network, and then she shoots off an e-mail to the manager in charge of hiring for her magazine. It reads "I need this guy on my staff. Hire him."

You land your dream job.

It could happen.

Here's how to make it happen

1. Update your resume (it must be a word .doc file).
2. Find an appropriate photo of yourself (the final photo will be square 125 pix X 125 pix, I can crop it for you, or you can edit it yourself) .
3. E-mail me your resume, photo, and a brief description of yourself, your goals, and your qualifications.
4. I'll upload everything to the accent site and send you an e-mail when it's done. Check it to make sure it is all correct.

Optional - Create or update a LinkedIn profile, and include the public profile URL in your resume. LinkedIn is a great way to improve your online presence.



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The Best Of Issue Awards - May 4, 2009 issue

Another great issue. I can't wait to see what next year will bring.

Best News Piece-
"Bill could allow handguns in school" by Chris Smith. By going down to the Capitol, listening to and reporting the testimony about the bill, and interviewing someone with a deep personal connection to the story (John Woods), Chris has illustrated the power of true reporting. He could have easily surfed the internet for information, watched some of the testimony over the video feed and made a few phone calls and written a good piece. By going down there, he was able to write a great piece. Chris also did a good job of incorporating the ACC angle with the Bacak quote. This piece is balanced, informative, and (most importantly) complete. The writing is strong. The reporting is exceptional.

Best Feature Piece-
"Sixth Street violence ends with fatal blow" by Teodora Erbes. I consider this a news feature. Although it is about recent events (news), the focus of the story is on the people involved and their story (feature). This is Tea's first attempt at writing a full piece, and she did a great job! The interviews with the family and others involved in this story are amazing. It is well written, informative, and has emotional impact. I am also very impressed with the angle that Teodora chose. While the city and national print and broadcast press have covered this, they have focused mainly on the sperm extraction angle. The Accent is providing an important service to the readers and our community by focusing on on the fact that the killer is still not captures, and by giving the mother a chance to really tell the the the story of who Nikolas was. This story respects the members of our community. This is what a community paper should do.

Best News Photo -
APD on Sixth Street by Kevin Forester. This photo gives the viewer a good sense of place, and the police in the foreground really help to illustrate the increased presence on Sixth. The lighting and composition of this shot were tricky. Kevin did a great job of making it work when he was given this late assignment. 90% of photojournalism is being there. Kevin went there.


Best Feature Photo -
Aikido shot (See slide 3 in the slide show) by Teodora Erbes. This is an excellent example of having the eye to know when and what to shoot and having the technical skills to shoot it well. Capturing the sensei's face and freezing the mid-air fall is no simple task. This is a great moment frozen with a high shutter speed which leads to a great action shot.

Best Illustration-
Editorial Cartoon by Karen Kuhn - Creepy baby! This (as always) well drawn cartoon is exactly the type of easily decoded "in your face" expression of an opinion that has real impact on viewers.

Best Column -
"-30- Column" - In her final column, Jamie hit the mark perfectly. This is a great example of taking a personal experience, analyzing it in order extract lessons, mixing it with humor, facts, and a distinct writer's voice and creating a final product that enjoyable to read, thought provoking, and profoundly human. It also doesn't hurt that she says nice things about me and the paper. -30-


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Accent Newspaper, May 4 issue

Accent May 4, 2009 issue

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Magazines & Newspape sga president handguns in school

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