Where: Harvard Press office, 3rd floor, General Store
When: Monday, Sept. 9, 3 p.m.
Who: Students grades 8-12
Seats are limited, sign up today!
The Harvard Press will offer its annual sports reporting and writing workshop this fall, open to any Harvard student in grades 8 through 12 and beginning the week of Sept. 16.
Classes will meet once a week in the evening so that students who are members of a fall sports team can attend.
The course will be taught by Harvard Press editor John Osborn and has two purposes. First, it offers students a chance to explore journalism, a unique profession that combines the skills of gathering information and interviewing with the craft of writing stories that are clear and concise—and compelling. The fundamentals of news reporting and writing learned in the workshop can be used in many professions, from law to public relations to broadcast and print media.
But second, the course provides students the training they need if they aspire to report for the Harvard Press, the town’s independent newspaper, or for Bromfield’s student newspaper, The Mirror. Both publications are eager to expand their coverage of student activities—especially sports, in the case of the Press—and will welcome recruits with the knowledge and skill this workshop provides.
We’ll teach the basics of news reporting and writing in six sessions. Through a series of reporting and writing assignments, we’ll show how to use those skills to cover a Bromfield varsity team. Our focus will be sports stories, but the craft of gathering facts, observing a game or match, interviewing coaches and athletes, and preparing a story for publication can be applied to any assignment.
Once students have completed the course, we’ll ask them to cover a Bromfield team for one season, contributing a game story or feature to the paper every week or two. This apprenticeship is an extension of the workshop—a second semester—where with the guidance of Press editors, students put their knowledge to work in a real newsroom.
We’ll be accepting up to six students this year. There is a small fee to cover the cost of textbooks and materials, but the Press will waive the fee for anyone who completes the course and covers a varsity sports team for at least one season.
To learn more, drop by the Press office on the third floor of the General Store on Monday, Sept. 9, at 3 p.m., where we will hold an information session to answer questions about the course and hand out a syllabus and applications. If you are a member of a fall sports team and can’t make it to the 3 p.m. session, please email Editor John Osborn at editor@harvardpress.com for a copy of the syllabus and an application.
The deadline for applications is Friday, Sept. 13.
To proceed with the course, we require a minimum of four students, so bring your friends and curiosity.