Submissions
Procedures and Tips for Submissions
Calendar Items
Email calendar items to Claire Kinberg, at [email protected].
Be sure to email the calendar item for any event you want listed, including those for which you’ve submitted an article.
Life Cycle Announcements
Email life cycle announcements to Claire Kinberg, at [email protected]
Write “Life Cycle Announcements” as the subject of the email.
Letters to the Editor
The WJN staff appreciates your feedback, comments, and suggestions. Send letters to the editor to [email protected]
Letters to be published in the paper should be 400 words or fewer. The author’s name can be withheld from publication at the discretion of the editor.
Articles
Article ideas should initially be discussed with Editor Clare Kinberg by phone (734) 395-4438, or email at [email protected].
Once an article is approved and written, email it to Clare Kinberg, at [email protected]
Always include name, telephone number, and email address of the person to be contacted in case of a question.
A few style tips for articles:
- Voice: Articles should be in third person, unless they are approved to be first person accounts (such as a travel experience article).
This: Participants will need a helmet.
Not: You will need a helmet.
This: The youth committee is planning…
Not: We are planning… - Tense: Use future tense to describe an upcoming event
This: The Choir will present its spring concert on…..
Not: The Choir presents its spring concert on …. - Titles of publications, films, lectures: Books, newspapers, magazines, movies, and CD titles are italicized. Articles, chapters, lectures, and songs are in quotation marks.
- Titles of people: Refer to people by first and last name on the first reference only. Use last name only for subsequent references. Exception: Use professional titles of Rabbi and Dr. with subsequent references. Also, using first name in subsequent references is OK for kids in middle school and younger. Do not take the spelling of any name for granted. People hate to have their names misspelled.
- Names of Organizations: Spell out the full name of an organization (i.e., Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County) the first time you mention it in an article. Subsequently, an acronym can be used (i.e., JFS) .
- Abbreviations: Do not use abbreviations. Spell out days of the week, names of months, names of states, etc.
This: Tuesday.
Not: Tue. - Numbers: Spell out numbers one through nine. Numbers 10 and above, use numerals; same with first through ninth, and 10th through 999th Also: Spell out any number that is the first word of a sentence.
- Dates: Never use th, rd, or nd:
This: July 3, 2007.
Not: July 3rd, 2007. - Year: Do not include the year when the event is within the same calendar year as the Washtenaw Jewish News publication date.
- Time: Do not use Zeroes (:00) or “o’clock.”
Do use a.m. and p.m.
This: The banquet begins at 7 p.m.
Not: The banquet begins at 7 o’clock.
Nor this: The banquet begins at 7:00 p.m.
Use “noon” or “midnight,” not 12 p.m. or 12 a.m. - Serial Comma: Use a comma before the final “and” in a series
This: The film, discussion, and reception are…
Not: The film, discussion and reception are… - For long articles: For long articles, especially accounts of travel, break up the text with a subheading for every few paragraphs.
(Note: Some of the above style tips are from the Intermountain Jewish News®, reprinted here with permission.)
Photos
Send photos by email to Clare Kinberg at [email protected]
Send photos as an attachment to an email; do not include or embed photos inside the message of your email.
Photos should be in JPG or TIF format. The Washtenaw Jewish News cannot use photos in bitmap ( *.bmp) format.
Black and white photos must be at least 180 DPI. Color photos must be at least 250 DPI.
Include a caption for each photo that you submit. Where possible, identify each person in the photo by first and last name. Please verify spellings.