Quick Courses coming our way

SND has announced trainers for the 2008 Quick Courses, and there are several opportunities in Region 3.

>>> STORY FORMS BOOT CAMP

January 18-19: The Poynter Institute, St. Petersburg, FL
March 29-30: Freedom Forum Diversity Institute, Nashville, TN

More publications are using alternative story forms, but everyone is still struggling to get it right. Learn what kinds of stories lend themselves to what forms and how to visualize them. Learn how to write, edit and design these forms. Learn how Interactivity and social networking functionality can be applied to news gathering. Bring your own story ideas and execute them as ASFs in the classroom.

Trainers: Josh Awtry, The Salt Lake Tribune; Stephen Komives, Orlando Sentinel; Denise M. Reagan, The Florida Times-Union


>>> FLASH: BEGINNER

March 14-15: University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL

In this two-day seminar, you'll learn the basics of multimedia storytelling, including how to pick a project, set up your team and develop an effective workflow. In addition, you'll get an introduction to Macromedia Flash, the standard for multimedia storytelling. And because this is a hands-on seminar, you won't just see the program in action, you'll actually get to try it yourself in our computer lab.

Trainers: R. Scott Horner, Swarm Interactive; Don Wittekind, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

You can find out more about each course and read speaker bios at the SND blog, or register at SND.org.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Looking through Newseum, I find it interesting to see how everyone handles holidays in the mast. Ignore it? Play it small? Or blow it out?

Here's how randomly selected Region 3 papers played it:









And some papers from other regions:








How does your paper handle holidays on A1? What do you think?

Think you're qualified to be an SND judge?

Or know someone who is?

Here's your chance to be involved with the annual Best of Newspaper Design competition. The Society is looking for nominations for future judges, and they DO NOT necessarily have to be an SND member or work in newspapers to be qualified.
If you'd like to nominate yourself or someone you know, please send an e-mail to Susan Santoro at the SND office with this information:

NAME
AFFILIATION
WORK TITLE
MAILING ADDRESS
TELEPHONE NUMBER
E-MAIL ADDRESS
NATIONALITY

And, for each nomination, please include a few sentences about the person to help determine which areas the person might judge.


OTHER COMPETITIONS NEWS:
The deadline for book cover entries is Nov. 27, so hurry if you'd like for your concept to be considered. (Not only will your work be on the SND 29 cover, but there's also a prize.)

OTHER DEADLINES:
The call for entries will be sent out around Thanksgiving, and the entries are due in Syracuse on or before Wednesday, Jan. 16.

AJC redesign: Lucie Lacava

Breaking news from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
This memo went out from Dee Dee D'Asaro, Print Senior Editor/Visuals to the visuals staff:

Wonderful news!

We are near the end of negotiations, and it looks like Lucie Lacava of Lacava Design Inc. will most likely be helping us redesign the Sunday newspaper.

Lucie is known for her elegant use of typography and architecture. Her portfolio includes over 60 projects, and the largest paper she's worked on is the Chicago Tribune. She was instrumental in designing/launching the National Post in Canada six years ago amid a highly competitive national market. More recently, she redesigned the Baltimore Sun and the Telegraph-Journal, and is finishing up a redesign of La Libre Belgique in Brussels. She is the originator of the much copied "hot L" concept for teases. I remember being inspired years ago by her use of spot color in her first major redesign: Le Devoir in Montreal. Three of her projects have been voted among the "World's Best Designed" by the Society of News Design for a grand total of 10 times.

The staff met with Lucie today and looks forward to all the changes in the future.
In the meantime, check out Atlanta's work at AJC.com and Lucie's portfolio at lacavadesign.ca.

Design a cover, win a prize

The SND committee that brings you the annual Best of Newspaper Design competition each year is having a little competition of its own -- to find a design/concept for the 29th edition's cover. The committee is looking for a concept that promotes award-winning news design. They encourage a cutting-edge design as long as the content relates to newspaper design.

HOW TO ENTER:
Please submit full-size, high-resolution concepts (9.25" x 12.25" -- measurements allow for a bleed trim of .25" on the top, bottom and right side). All images must be 300 dpi at the size they will be used. Designers must provide written permission to use all images and fonts included in the cover design. A full-size PDF file may be sent as an entry but an editable QuarkXPress or InDesign file will be needed within seven days if your cover concept is selected as a winner. Full color is available and, if needed, the 29th Edition cover can include embossed area(s).

WHAT YOU GET:
The first-place winner's cover will be used on the 29th edition (available in October 2008) and he or she will be recognized at the annual awards dinner at the Las Vegas conference. He or she will also win a prize in recognition of having the winning cover design, assuming the designer fulfills the competition requirements. All designers submitting a cover design will receive a certificate recognizing his or her work.

DEADLINE:
Nov. 27, 2007. For additional specs or questions, please contact: Marshall Matlock, SND competition committee director, mmatlock@dreamscape.com, 315-263-8899, 3464 16th Ave. N., St. Petersburg, FL 33713. All entries will be acknowledged via e-mail as soon as they are received by e-mail attachments (for PDFs) or mail (if CD or DVD) with all required files including two match prints, if possible. Please include your name, job title, preferred mailing address, phone number with area code and e-mail address with all entries.

LEGAL STUFF:
The SND Competition Committee and its book editor reserve the right to ask the cover designer to make changes if deemed necessary, and the designers have the right to withdraw his or her cover from the competition if he or she does not wish to make the changes. No entries can be returned, and non-winning entries remain the property of the designer. Winning entries become the property of the Society for News Design, which may decide to use the cover on future publications with proper designer credit. The judges reserve the right not to select a winning entry or to reject any entry that arrives after the Nov. 27 deadline.

Sun-Sentinel creates new multimedia dept.

Now that Comcast has brought that series of tubes to my new place in Atlanta, I'm up and running again with the SND Region 3 blog!

The first bit of (slightly delayed) news comes from Tim Frank, DME/Visuals at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. They've just created a new multimedia department that will combine online's video staff with the newsroom's visual staff. Scott Horner is the new multimedia director.
From his memo to the staff:

We're pleased to announce that Scott Horner has been named director of our newly created Multimedia Department, effective immediately.

Scott helped put the Sun-Sentinel on the multimedia map, with TheEdge, and as one of visual journalism's leading teachers of Flash and multimedia storytelling. He recently returned from a Knight Fellowship at Stanford University, where he studied documentary filmmaking and immersed himself in digital culture.

Scott has the talent, experience and vision to lead our ambitious effort to tear down the walls between print and online in video, photography, graphics and design to create what we expect to be one of the most innovative multimedia departments in the country. Our goals are to:

• Give multimedia the emphasis we give photography, graphics or print design.
• Increase the volume, immediacy and quality of online video, photography and interactive graphics.
• Promote a cohesive vision for all online visuals.
• Integrate video into the newsroom.

As the multimedia director, Scott will oversee the video team led by our new Online Visuals Editor, Wanda Wright, and establish an overall vision for online presentation. Scott will work closely with all departments producing work for online, directly manage video and focus on keeping the Sun-Sentinel way ahead of the curve for innovative visual storytelling.

Scott, who is a graduate of the University of Central Florida, joined the Sun-Sentinel in 1996 and has been assistant graphics editor for almost eight years. He will report to Tim Frank and Sherry Skalko.

Congratulations Scott and everyone at the Sun-Sentinel.
Keep your eyes on Sun-Sentinel.com!

Off to Boston ...

Region 3 is heading to Boston!

One quick reminder: If you're going to the annual workshop, there are so many avenues to get involved with the Society. An easy way that many people may not know about is to bring your ideas to committee meetings (all SND members are welcome). Here are the times and places ...

Competition: 1 p.m. Thursday, Stuart Room
International: 2 p.m. Thursday, Hancock Room
Diversity: 3 p.m. Thursday, Hancock Room
Publications: 3 p.m. Thursday, St. James Room
Education: 4 p.m. Thursday, Hancock Room
SND.org: 4 p.m. Thursday, St. James Room

Quick Course: 9 a.m. Friday, Hancock Room
Educators Brown-Bag Roundtable: 12:30 p.m. Friday, TBA

SND.ies: 12:15 p.m. Saturday, Hancock Room

Check back for updates from the workshop!

Fire destroys SmartNews building

SmartNews, the startup free daily paper in Fayetteville, N.C., is in temporary quarters after the building that houses its offices burned down early Monday.

Investigators haven't pinpointed a cause, but this from Managing Editor Jim McBee:

No word yet on the cause of the fire -- as I type, State Bureau of Investigation and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents are poking through the wreckage. The building's owner called SmartNews owner and publisher Randy Foster at home in the wee hours to tell him the building was on fire. And then he called me. Not much sleep, but we're getting out Tuesday's paper per usual. Thankfully, critical laptops were not in the office when it went up, and we contract out our printing.

Hopefully, no one was hurt. Jim, you and your staff are in our thoughts! Please keep us posted.

Sunday's Special Reports

Remember series?
Several region 3 papers launched series or special reports today, and I noticed they all had some pretty hefty multimedia elements, too. I'm still trying to figure out how to post like a blogger pro, but you can take a closer look at these pages either at Newseum or their Web sites. Here's a glance:


ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
LIFE OR DEATH, four-day series

The murders illustrate what a two-year investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has revealed: Getting the death penalty in Georgia is as predictable as a lightning strike. Thirty-five years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the death penalty nationwide after finding it was arbitrary and capricious in Georgia.

It still is. Reforms that persuaded the high court to reinstate the death penalty have fallen far short of the state's promises, the Journal-Constitution has found.

At AJC.com, they have video of a victim's father, analysis of the crimes and racial factors, and databases and multimedia presentations. (FYI, you have to register ... but it's free!)

THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
THE WAR, seven-part series

One of PBS's most ambitious programs ever launches Sept. 23, a documentary on World War II that for seven nights promises to transfix the nation with epic sweep.

It chronicles the defining struggle of the 20th century while serving as an extraordinary salute to the ordinary people whose fading legions hold the last living memory of history's deadliest epoch.

The Observer is running seven profiles of local World War II veterans whose experiences are similar to those portrayed in the program. At Charlotte.com, you can find video to go with the local veteran profile and a look at the PBS filmmaker.


THE STATE
SAVAGE METH, three-day series

James Matthew Quattlebaum was sure he was finished. The Indiana transplant sat in his car at the side of a Lexington County road, stopped for a traffic violation. On the seat, wrapped in tinfoil, was methamphetamine. On the floorboard were boxes of Sudafed. In the trunk, cans of ether.

The deputy charged Quattlebaum with driving with a suspended license and impounded his car. But when Quattlebaum got the car back, the meth, the Sudafed, the ether — all of it — was untouched.

“The car was full of ingredients to cook dope — and they didn’t know,” Quattlebaum said. “They had no clue.”

TheState.com has an interactive map that shows how widespread the meth problem is in Lexington County, S.C. It highlights where meth labs have been found -- including in a house or vehicle, around children, or at a hotel or motel. You also can read a profile of a family torn apart by the drug and several other stories.

If you're in region 3 and your paper has a special report or series coming up, let me know. And if anyone from the AJC, Observer or The State has some inside PDFs they'd like to share ... please do!

Komives named SND Quick Course Director

More great news from region 3: The new Quick Course Director is Stephen Komives of the Orlando Sentinel.

Stephen has a long history with SND. His work has won multiple SND awards, including a silver medal in 2006 for a four-page papal timeline "From St. Peter to the New Day." In 2002, he helped judge the 14,000+ entries in SND's international competition in Syracuse, N.Y. Later that year, he rescued SND's annual workshop by reorganizing it from Buenos Aires to Savannah, Ga., in a matter of months when the Argentine economy collapsed. In 2006, he served as President of the Jury for the prestigious Malofiej Infographics Competition in Pamplona, Spain. And he was very instrumental in bringing SND's annual workshop to Orlando last year, securing $15,000 in grants for student journalists. He's also been a speaker at several SND and industry events.

You can read all about it at The Blog.

Congrats, Stephen!

Nick Masuda to the Orlando Sentinel

This is a little old to be considered "news" ... but better late than never!

The memo from Bonita Burton, AME/visuals at the Orlando Sentinel:

I'm pleased to announce that Nick Masuda will join the Sentinel as a senior designer on Sept. 28.

Nick is a highly decorated visual editor who has spent the last year and a half overseeing the design, graphics, photo and Web operations in Lewiston, Maine, in addition to their sports coverage. Before that, he was a sports and news designer at the San Jose Mercury News and deputy sports editor at the Santa Barbara News-Press.

Some of Nick's work:

In related news, Alan Jacobson posts over at BestFrontDesign.com:

Recently, I have been unable to complete my daily posts because of other overwhelming business demands. As a result, it has become impossible to critique pages with the frequency I began and that you had grown accustomed to. But there is a silver lining. During the course of BFD there has been one voice that seemed to show the reason and logic necessary to not only produce fine design, but to explain through his comments, the "why" that will let others learn how to make their pages better. His name is Nick Masuda. Nick will be taking the lead on BFD sometime in October after he completes his move from Maine to Florida.

Congrats, Nick, on the move to Florida and the new BFD gig!

Welcome to region 3!

Promotions at The State

Now it's time for some delayed region 3 news:

Tom Peyton, Visual Director at The State in Columbia, S.C., recently announced a couple of design promotions.

Bill Campling is now the News Presentation Editor. Some examples of his work:

AND, Merry Eccles has been promoted to Sports Presentation Editor. Merry, I couldn't find a portfolio at NPD ... send me some clips!

Congratulations to Bill, Merry and The State!

Welcome back!

I’m Melissa Angle, the new SND director for region 3 covering the Southeastern United States.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’d like to introduce myself. I’m a senior designer at the Orlando Sentinel in Orlando, Fl. However, I recently accepted a job as a senior designer at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in Atlanta, Ga., and will begin work there Oct. 22.

I want to get this blog up and running again, and many thanks to the former region 3 director Nicole Bogdas for helping me with the transition. It’s been a long, long time since I've had a blog … so please bear with me while I learn the ropes.

So let’s get started! Please e-mail me any ideas, suggestions or news from your paper at sndregion3@gmail.com. That can include anything you think is noteworthy … redesigns, reorganizations, upgrades, changes, member moves, job openings, recent hires, promotions, special projects.

I'm looking forward to this new adventure. And if you're going to be in Boston next month, be sure to track me down to say hello!