09:45 PM CDT on Saturday, October 8, 2005
By the time you read this column, most stories and photos for next week’s Richardson Neighbors already are in our hands, er, computers.
Or we know it’s coming and have made plans to take it late.
If not, it probably won’t be running Oct. 15. And not because we’re trying to make trouble for you. Honestly.
Folks have submitted material Monday, Tuesday, even Wednesday, pleading in their most desperate voices for us to get it into that Saturday’s edition – often short news items on an event coming up that week or photos on an event last week.
“I would really appreciate anything you could do to get it in the next edition, THIS Saturday,” one neighbor said recently after we told her the news item she submitted less than three days before publication was too late to get in.
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Cover Photo Requirements (Editor's Note - March 4, 2006)
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Unfortunately, the “next edition” to which she referred wasn’t OUR next edition by the time we spoke. Likewise, by this Monday or Tuesday, and certainly by Wednesday, our next edition, for all practical purposes, is Oct. 22, not Oct. 15.
As much as we want to accommodate our readers, production requirements for our weekly publication dictate the schedule with which we must live so we can get Neighbors to you Saturday morning.
I tell you this “inside information,” which you might not need to know or even want to know because, since we launched Neighbors, more neighbors than we can count have asked about deadlines or expressed confusion over when to submit material.
So, here are a few suggestions to help you get your news to us and to your neighbors:
Try to submit all briefs-type news items at least 10 days in advance of the publication date of the issue in which you would like to see it appear. For the Oct. 22 edition, for example, 10 days in advance is THIS Wednesday, Oct. 12. Does that mean it absolutely won’t get in if you miss that date? No. But the odds diminish dramatically each day after that, unless it’s a story (rarely a brief) about a weekend event for which we made arrangements to accept late. Of course, you also may submit your news items to the Metro section of The Dallas Morning News for possible publication, which was the solution we suggested to the desperate reader mentioned above.
Provide details, lots of details. If you’re not sure what that means, use as examples news briefs or stories that have appeared in Neighbors or The Dallas Morning News. And if you have even more details than that, submit them. You also can refer to the Neighbors online submission tools at www.dallasnews.com/neighbors — Richardson will appear on a popup menu — for an idea of the basic information we’ll need.
Write a story about your upcoming event – or series of events – as Suzanne Anderson of the Lake Highlands Elementary PTA did for this week’s issue on plans to celebrate the school’s 50th anniversary. Or write a story afterward as Carol Lanham of Brentfield Elementary School PTA did on a recent visit by parenting expert Brenda Bird.
Send photos: From last year’s event to run with this year’s announcement; from this year’s event to accompany a story or to run alone with an informative caption. We’re even interested in photos you take at community events such as last weekend’s Cottonwood Art Festival or simply something interesting you captured while out and about. Don’t wait for us to ask, just send it. We’re always looking for good photos of Richardson people and activities for Neighbors. (But send them as soon after the event as you can — even Monday — so it remains as timely as possible).
Material may be e-mailed to richneighbors@dallasnews.com, either as e-mail text or as an attached MS Word file. Photos should be JPEG format high-resolution color, about 300 dpi (dots per inch). Photo prints also are acceptable.
Of course, you also can call or e-mail me if you still have questions.
We want to share “Your Stories - Your Photos - Your News” with our readers, your neighbors.
Contact Richardson Neighbors Editor Mark Macesich at mmacesich@dallasnews.com or call 469-330-5670.