Online Submission Guidelines
For anyone interested in contributing to the online edition of The Torch, here's some reference material you should know!
Headlines follow "AP Down-Style"
In your printed articles your headlines appear with each letter capitalized. Online, only the first letter is capitalized except for special cases such as titles, names, or notable places.
i.e; 'Online Torch' guidelines for submission
Additionally you'll notice that single quotations were used in lieu of double quotations (" ").
Always try to keep your headlines between 7 and 10 words (the former being preferable) and style them to take full advantage of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) so that people searching for news and features relevant to your subject matter can find your articles more easily.
"Newsworthy" articles should contain information that has become available within 48-hours
This is self-explanatory. If you're writing breaking news for the online edition, the information you used should have become available within the last 48 hours. After that, the story is no longer considered "newsworthy."
Of course, some stories can take a unique angle on the subject matter past the 48-hour mark. At that point, it won't exactly be considered "newsworthy," but you can still make the title worth reading, bearing in mind that there is a difference between opinion and hard news.
Source your material (so we don't have to)
All news articles should contain at least three links to relevant sources that credit your report. When you don't look for these sources, we have to. If you got information from the Huffington Post, include at the end of a specific passage that was derived from an artice "...writes/reports/says/etc. the Huffington Post.
Notice how that last bit is underlined? Sourcing your material helps us and your audience understand where you got your information.
In the case of interviews, campus news, or features in which the information you obtained was obtained entirely by your own reporting, you only need to cite whoever gave you the information. In either case, try to include three links to outside sources anyway such as the websites to institutions or locations where you did your reporting to help communicate with your audience more concisely.
More links = better articles, but don't overdo it; three - five will do.
At least one picture!
Check out MCTcampus.com and search for a photo if you don't have one and it doesn't relate to campus news. Once you have it, email it to [email protected] so that they can remove the watermark and apply it to your article.
If you're doing an on-campus report, talk to Tania (Photo Editor) about booking either herself or another photographer on staff to assist you in getting pictures for your story, but try to do so with 48-hour-notice.
Nobody likes to get the pressure put on them, so unless this is breaking, or an event you previously didn't know about, try not to stress out the photographers who may have obligations that prevent them from helping you, and always be respectful in the event that they don't have time to, in which case, you might need to find a way to get the shot yourself.
One important caveat: We DO NOT accept iPhone photos. Smartphones have come a long way, but we prefer photos from professional DSLRs. If you don't own one, find someone who does.
At least one photo should be applied to your article, and your article will NOT be published until we have one. So please don't make our jobs any harder and don't share/submit until you have all your bases covered.
More than one can really lend a hand in sprucing up the articles, so feel free to go wild, but understand, once it gets to the Online Editor, we need to be selective. Giving us more options to choose from is obviously better than not giving us anything, but you don't have to go overboard either.
Now that you know our guidelines get out there and start producing content!
Remember that your reach online is entirely dependent upon how you network yourself.
Share your stuff on LinkedIn, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites to increase your following, and engage your fellow BCC students.