Receiving our first-ever SNO Distinguished Sites plaque last year in the principal's office
Photo by Nicole Morgan
Web &
Social Media
One of my most vivid memories from freshman year of Pitch is constantly checking the website to see if my article had been published yet (often, it hadn't). Now, as Editor-in-Chief, I am responsible for ensuring articles are published on time online and use web multimedia tools effectively. Here are some examples of stories I have written or published that embody what good online journalism should look like.
Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Seyun Park
Timely Coverage
National Scholastic Press Association Multimedia Sports Story of the Year 3rd place
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I covered softball's state quarterfinal, which started at 5:30 p.m. on a Monday afternoon. Senior pitcher Sami Rosenberg pitched the final out for the win at 7:51 p.m. and the story was published online at 11:00 p.m. that night. ​Because the team played again the next day in the state semi-final, the article for this game had to be quick. However, with the photos and multimedia tools I had, I added as many elements that would make sense into the story, including the recording of our live broadcast, helping the story become a sports multimedia story finalist.
Multimedia Tools
SNO Infographics
National Scholastic Press Association Multimedia Feature Story of the Year Honorable Mention
Analyzing the state of the Washington Capitals involved looking at the stats of certain players. In this case, I used an infographic to show goals and assists for center Evgeny Kuznetsov, who had been traded away at the deadline to another team. This visualized the data that showed his decline in performance.
Featured in: House passes bill to potentially ban TikTok
When the House passed a bipartisan bill to potentially ban TikTok, one of the most interesting things that the divide was not by party, but by age. Nancy Pelosi and Chip Roy were speaking together against AOC and Matt Gaetz. I used this graph to show how younger congressmen were much less likely to support the bill.
Social Media
For this article, I covered the girls' volleyball regional semifinal against Walt Whitman High School. At the game, I took pictures and transferred them to my phone using the Canon Connect app. As soon as the game ended, I posted the scorebug graphic from my phone, and at home, I worked on producing the video package about the story that went on the website.
Social Media Templates
This year, I worked with my Online Managing Editors and Social Media Managers to implement new templates for social media that I designed. We standardized our brand on social media and made it easier to post directly via Canva. Each of the over 10 different template options utilizes our new brand palette of four distinct colors and follows the basic rules of graphic design.
Old Posts: No Templates
Text covering up face of person, no standardization of watermark location
Text again covering face, headline improperly up-styled, missing section label, wrong aspect ratio. Randomly bolded.
Wrong spelling of Eras, using different font (lacked standardization of font or color)
Watermark missing
New Templates:
Standardized color scheme (black, white, dark & light green). Standardized font and style.
Standardized square aspect ratio and watermark, section label, and headline font styles
Varying template options allow for creative freedom and variety of photos, layouts
Social Media Coverage
Photo Galleries:
For major school events, we often post photo galleries to Instagram first before posting follow-up coverage on our website in the following days. The same day photo galleries on Instagram allow us to maximize engagement, including likes and reposts as students who participated in these events can repost and share pictures with their friends. Here are three examples.
Fall Pep Rally
(posted before new
templates were in place)
Halloween Costume Contest
Black History Month
student assembly
Engagement:
While we have maintained a presence on Instagram for over 10 years, in my first year as Editor-in-Chief, I have placed a heavy emphasis on social media and therefore, we have rapidly increased the number of posts on Instagram while also increasing engagement and following.