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Note: This story appeared in the Fall 2019 November edition of CoSIDA 360 Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.
Perspectives From Outside the Profession
Telling Your Story
by Amy Wimmer Schwarb – NCAA, Associate Director, Communications-Editorial Development // Editor, Champion Magazine
Pulling off a quality feature story as a busy athletics communication professional is challenging. Whether you’re producing a video, a written piece or a unique multimedia treatment, the hardest part can simply be finding the time to execute the project and hold it to a high standard.
At the NCAA national office, the communications group wants to help you reap more returns from the time you invest. We hope you think of our resources as a tool for extending the good work you do on campus. We want to help your stories reach a broader audience through NCAA channels.
What’s the best way to bring a story to our attention? Here are some tips:
DO
• Create a Submittable account at ncaa.submittable.com/submit.
Champion magazine editors, the social media team, After the Game program leaders and other communications staff members review these ideas regularly. Through this avenue, you also can submit other assets, such as photos, videos and links to previous stories.
• Consider how your idea conveys the value of college sports.
We tell the stories of tens of thousands of student-athletes, coaches and athletics administrators on our platforms. When keeping an eye out for stories we might want to amplify, our goal is to promote the value of college sports as an opportunity for student-athletes to get an education and enhance their lives, both on and off the playing field.
• Ask questions.
Have you submitted a number of ideas but haven’t yet piqued our interest? I tend to offer feedback on why an idea did or didn’t make the cut only when someone asks for an explanation. Often, the reason is simple and something you might not expect. For instance, we may have received too many soccer stories in one month, or an idea about an ambidextrous quarterback may have arrived after we recently featured an ambidextrous softball pitcher.
DON'T
• Pitch us a perfect story … at the end of the student’s final competitive season.
We want our stories to be forward-looking with several opportunities for repromotion. In spring 2019, for instance, Champion magazine produced a story about Northeastern State student-athlete Maddie Boyd, a softball player and young mother who was on track to become her school’s career hits leader. That story was published before the softball season started, repromoted at pivotal moments during the season and, of course, helped celebrate Boyd’s record-breaking accomplishment.
• Sweat it.
You’re busy, and we truly understand that at the national office. Never feel like you have to craft the perfect pitch when reaching out to us. I like to think we’re all on the same team. If you recognize the seed of a good idea in something you see on campus, shoot us a quick line to see if we want to know more. We’re happy to do the rest of the work of fleshing out details.
Amy Wimmer Schwarb has served at the NCAA national office since October 2013. She previously worked as an adjunct instructor and lecturer at Indiana University and the University of Florida.
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