Judge’s Comments

Cheryl Pontius, judge • Division 3
Judge’s edited issue: Vol. 55 Issue 6

“Another fun, informative and interesting publication that offers something for everyone. Consistently good year to year. Solid writing, good design.”

Positive comments:
• Nice front page with photo and partial story (be careful with your screens here because they can make copy hard to read)

• Nice teasers and index

• Very good mix of content, breadth of coverage – local to your audience

• Good mix of news stories relevant to audience – writing is solid with good leads, sources, quotes

• Features are solid with good leads and accompanying photos/art

• Good dominant story/art per page

• Very interesting to see Hispanics Cub Reporter – great idea

• Nice photo spread on members of the Spirit of Central

• Great center spread on date rape – article about an actual victim at your school and an article about emergency contraceptives, plus info on date rape drugs. Good article that is highly relevant to your audience. I applaud the strength of Jessica Pilarski and the sensitive way article was written.

• Great feature – “Leaving his mark” – about a student artist who creates with his mouth

• Cute feature on Six degrees of separation although a little bit of a stretch at times

• Good mix of reviews – loved seeing What you think…Let students discuss a CD and what music they listen to

• Really liked titles playing off publication’s name (A Brief Paws, Bear in Mind)

• Nicely designed inside pages – very clean, readable

• Good use of drop caps, pull quotes, info boxes (congratulations on wrapping text around pull quote and not splitting a column of copy)

• Weighing the issue is well researched on both sides of the coin (watch screens – they are a little dark). Might try having guest writers do this instead of staff members.

• Good mix of sports – surprised to see only three pages of sports in a paper this size

• Good editing/style

Constructive criticism comments:
• Try to get school address into nameplate

• Too many “Is” in columns – it’s a forum page for readers, not for staff. Try to get people not on staff to be guest columnists.

• Get rid of Hugs and Growls – not professional

• Label staff editorial in some way (most editorials don’t use pull quotes) and avoid use of personal pronouns

• Your photo poll seems a little biased. You have one “no” and seven “yes” answers to the question “Should we restrict immigration?” Is the student answering “no” an immigrant? That’s what it looks like.

• Work on reproduction of photos. Content is good.

• No letters to the editor

• Avoid passive voice whenever possible

• Not sure of the point of listing items about other schools