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Changing the way we do things, for you, the reader
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Published: December 21, 2008
Today we unveil a new, modern look on the Journal's editorial pages. And, as we announced last month, things are different under the hood, too.
Our "Letters to the Editor" section has been changed to "The readers' forum." And because we want more letters from readers, we've added a little incentive to get you to write -- a weekly award. At the end of every week, starting in January, the Journal's editorial board will select the "Correspondent of the Week" from among the week's submissions.
The letter that we conclude contains the best-articulated, most cogent argument for the writer's subject -- regardless of whether we agree with it or not -- will win.
Each week's winner will have his or her letter showcased in the Sunday readers' forum in a box with the headline, Correspondent of the Week. And the writer will receive a special gift from the Journal.
And that's not all. All weekly winners during the year will compete for Correspondent of the Year. The big winner will receive an award, a nice gift and be recognized with a story and photograph in the Journal.
If you are thinking about submitting a letter for the readers' forum for the first time, or if you sent a letter once long ago and were rejected, take a look at the column on this page by Mick Scott, the Journal's letters editor.
Mick has pulled together some excellent tips and guidelines for getting a letter published. We're going to archive his column in the Opinion section of journalnow.com for future reference. Mick is always happy to talk with you, as well. His contact information is at the end of his column.
And, oh, for our regular letter writers, a gift: 50 words. We've increased the word limit to 250.
You'll see two other changes today designed to invite more participation. In our "When you write" box in The readers' forum is an invitation to our weekly editorial-board meetings, held each Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. at our downtown offices. If you are curious about how we make decisions, you are welcome to come observe.
And finally, we changed the name of our Guest Column feature that runs occasionally to "North Carolina Voices." We'd like to expand this feature to include a wider variety of voices, prominent or otherwise, from our area and the state, on issues of interest and importance. We plan to reach out and solicit essays from key people in the community.
Of course, these changes will not affect our dedication to offering you reasoned editorial comment on the issues of the day, as well as a broad and diverse spectrum of commentary from national correspondents.
One element of the new page design crafted by our talented design desk team leader, Richard Boyd, is an expanded masthead. That's the box on the editorial page that lists the names of the newspaper's publisher and key executives. We moved it to the bottom of the page, expanded the list of names and added a quote from the founders of the newspaper.
While the founders could not have envisioned that the Journal would grow far beyond the city limits of Winston-Salem, the sentiment is spot on. We do commit to you our "whole time, attention, energy and limited ability" to providing you a newspaper that we hope you consider as your own.
Carl Crothers is the Journal's executive editor. He can be reached at 727-7277 or at ccrothers@wsjournal.com.
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