Assignment: Event Story
The event story is a test of both preparedness and the ability to make decisions in the moment.
Before you attend your event, you should have a rough idea of what you are going to write about. Perhaps this year’s event is smaller than in the past due to a pandemic or anemic fundraising. Or the event may be tied to some broader trend going on, such as a regular yoga class held outside in a rapidly gentrifying area.
Or maybe your intend to use the event to talk about a broader issue, such as how this year’s Pride parade shows the shift in attitudes about the LGBT community.
But as Mike Tyson famously said, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. You need to be ready to pivot to a completely different story if the event changes — such as when an outdoor concert turns into a disastrous mud pit due to an unexpected storm—or you find a better angle while talking to people at the event.
One rule of thumb I have long used: If you don’t know what the story is by halfway through the event, you’re sunk. Once you’ve settled on the theme of your story, spend the remaining time at your event asking people questions about that. What did the concert-goers think of all that mud? How did the band handle all the rain? Why was the grounds crew unprepared?
For this story, you need to find an event that you think will be worth covering, do some pre-reporting on potential angles and then attend it and write the story within two hours of the end of the event. You need to get pre-approval of your event by emailing me a short sentence or two on what it is and why you think it’s a good event.
- Minimum of three sources, including subject
- Minimum of 550 words, maximum of 625
- Google News headline: 60 characters maximum, lead with keywords
- Google News summary: 160 characters maximum, include keywords
- Social media headline: 95 characters maximum
- Minimum of three links to relevant websites or previous news stories
- Written in AP Style
- Turned in by deadline
- Ready to publish
Don’t forget to use the generic story template!
Due date: No later than Oct. 5. Rewrite due Oct. 12.
“All writers are vain, selfish, and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives there lies a mystery.” — George Orwell
