Winding up for the Pitch Paper

On day 1 of the workshop, I learned the importance of the "pitch paper". I have seen many variations of this form in the past at other workshops. I get a copy from the workshop presenter and excitedly bring it to my classroom with full intentions of having the students use this form to give me their story ideas. Unfortunately, I was never able to get the buy-in of the students and the form was never implemented.

This past year we had to address how to keep from running similar stories in different sections of the same issue.  The editors and I implemented the process where each section editor had to send me an email with all of their story assignments, due dates, and source recommendations for each story. In the email, the editors had to include a quick summary of the following information for each story:
story idea
writer
angle
sources/interviewees
deadline

I learned today that several critical parts are missing to ensure that each idea would become a strong story.

With the pitch paper, each student is held accountable in the beginning stages for the planning process for their story. Filling out the details of a pitch paper allows any missing information to be seen early  in the process. The elements of a pitch paper will assist the student in identifying the key elements of a strong story idea as described below.
1. audience
2. relevancy
   a. is it relevant to your audience
   b. does it fit with the mission statement
3. news value
   a. timeliness (new news?)
   b. proximity (occur close to audience or across the globe)
   c. conflict/tension (struggles)
   d. human interest (appeal to the emotions of reader)
   e. impact (how does this affect me?)
4. focus
    a. angle
5. feasibility
    a. deadline
    b. political or legal issues?
    c. how much space is needed to tell the story?

The biggest piece that I was missing was news value. We were not asking how this story would impact the audience emotionally, if at all. We did not check to see if anyone was interested in the story.

By the end of the week, I hope to have a form completed for the "pitch paper".

Linda Hopson
Bellarie, Texas
Bellaire High School
(a part of Houston Independent School District)