Becoming a published writer is easier than you think, and we’re here to help you walk through the process and getting your articles published.
I'm Robert Morano, and I started BrocktonBeat for our city so that Brockton has our area's top hyper-local news website, where we focus on up-close, in-depth coverage of neighborhoods like yours.Every neighborhood has that one person who has ideas or has an area of expertise such as accounting, hobbies, arts & crafts,the best Italian food recipes or what the local pub has for specailize.
We welcome all to join and in the not too far future we will be offering prizes from cash to local gift certificates. We believe that with a camera and a few words you are on your way to becoming the new talk of the town.
This contest is a pro-am, where writers of all skill levels and points of view – writers like you – are welcome to write about what interests you.
No story is too small for The BrocktonBeat. Do you have a business you love, a community volunteer you admire, a trend that disturbs you, people who give you hope, city employees who drive you crazy? What don’t you understand about City Hall? What do people need to know about your neighborhood? What’s old and admirable? What’s changing?
To start writing, simply choose a topic from business,politics,sports and email it to Brocktonbeat@hotmail.com
We will first start out with the top publishers and as time goes by and we add sponsorships and prizes.
We suggest that you write your story in a separate writing application and then, when you've finished and had it copy edited, cut and paste it into our site.
Important: Every story you enter/post on the site must be tagged "Brocktonbeat2011". Just write those words in the space provided. You should also feel free to add tags to you story in the space provided, especially choosing one of our “section” tags – Culture, Business, Politics and Sports – depending on which one fits the story best.
CATEGORIES & CRITERIA FOR JUDGING
Entries will be judged by our staff, and that judgment will be subjective. But we will be using criteria for what we think good journalism is. Among those criteria are:
•Accuracy: Facts, spelling and quotes should be correct. Double-check everything and use your computer’s spell check.
•Writing style: Writing should be clear, concise and enjoyable.
•Local focus: Stories should be set Brockton or Plymouth County.
•Sourcing: Include a minimum of two living, breathing sources in your story. Quotes from people who know what you’re writing about will always enliven and improve your story. Aim to include different perspectives. Wikipedia, About.com, press releases and book or newspaper excerpts are not acceptable sources.
•Mostly though, we’ll judge entries based on how interesting they are, if they’re news or a new approach to an old story, how well-researched they are, the quality of the writing and the quotes.
Stories may not be re-posts from blogs or other publications, print or online.
Finally, we will give extra weight to high-quality photographs, either accompanying stories or standing on their own with explanatory captions.
RULES
To be eligible, stories must be posted on the site, by you (using your real name), between 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2011 and 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 31, 2011. We will be able to help you post either over the phone or in our office during our normal business hours (10 a.m. through 6 p.m. Monday through Friday).
You may enter as many different stories as you like, but please enter/post each story only once! Make sure to tag it BrocktonBeat2011" in the Lets change Brockton Together. You are the new Citizen Journalist. Please send in your articles, photographs and community events.
POINT REWARD SYSTEM:
PHOTGRAPH-2 POINTS
ARTICLE OVER 100 WORDS 4 POINTS
ARTICLE OVER 1OO WORDS 6 POINTS
ARTICLE OVER 500 WORDS 12 POINTS
COMMUNITY EVENT 1 POINT
SPECAILIZED INTERST ARTICLE(HOBBIES,ACCOUNITING ETC) OVER 100 WORDS POINTS
BREAKING NEWS 15 POINTS
VIDEO UNDER 15 MINUTES AT LEAST 10 MINUTES 12 POINTS
COMIC STRIP 5 POINTS.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND ANY INPUT WOULD BE GREATLY APRRECIATED.
