Web and Social Media
One of my biggest preconceived notions about the ODYSSEY was that most journalism primarily happened in the newsmagazine -- that's not the case. With most of our audience online, I learned the importance of making stories accessible to everyone across all platforms.
Web Exclusives
A lot of content the Sports section produces is web exclusive – for example, we do previews and By the Numbers for important upcoming games. As a part of our cycle, four out of six weeks are dedicated to web content, so we always tried to have a lot of coverage on the website for that. Click on the photos to see some of the web exclusive content I’ve produced.
Packages
One thing the ODYSSEY does is combine multiple web stories into a larger package, which allows us to cover all sides of the game or issue. In the sports section, we package material for big games, such as the Classic City Championship between CCHS and Cedar Shoals High School in football. Click on the photos to see that package and one for basketball senior night, which won first and second for online sports packages from the Southern Interscholastic Press Association.
Multimedia
One requirement for every story we write is to create multimedia elements for it. While I sometimes find these tedious, I came to realize this year that multimedia is a great way to tell a story outside of traditional writing and a way to keep a reader engaged. Click on the photo to see the multimedia elements in my story on head baseball coach Jerry Boatner.
Scenes
Especially in the first semester of my sophomore year, I worked a lot on social media collecting scenes – a short spotlight on someone in the CCHS community. We use scenes when there is an especially time-sensitive issue or simply to generate content that will bring readers in. Click on the photos to read some scenes I wrote on people in the Athens community.
Breaking News
The last type of social media work I’ve had experience with is breaking news. This was sometimes related to sports, but I also reported on things outside of that sphere, such as the mock trial team’s success and administrative changes at CCHS. Click on the photos to see some examples of my breaking news work.
National News
I also have experience in reporting on national news topics. With these, I tried to localize the event to our high school audience, showing them how it would affect them. Too often, high schoolers are disinclined to read news because they don’t see how it would affect them – with this type of social media work, I tried to show students why they should care. Click on the photos to see some examples of me reporting on national news.
Promos
Another type of social media work I’ve done is a promo, which highlights a story someone has written on the website. These are either a video of the author explaining their story or a selection of the best photos from the story with a caption explaining the essence of the story. Click on the photos to see some promos I’ve made for my stories.
Game Previews
Shifting now to sports, I posted a lot of game previews on our Instagram. These consisted of a photo from the ODYSSEY archives with text displayed on top of it indicating the time, opponent, and location of the game, while the caption featured a quote from a player about the way they felt about the game. Click on the photos to see some examples of my game previews on social media.
Final Score Graphics
The opposite of a game preview is a final score graphic – we post these whenever a big game has ended, but always within an hour of that happening. This includes a photo from the archives as well as a quote from a player or coach on how they felt about the game. Click on the photos to see some examples of my final score graphics.