With The AEGEEan, we try to publish articles about anything that is going on in- and outside of the Network, varying from reports of events like Network Meetings and Agorae to interviews with outstanding members within AEGEE-Europe. To do this, we have a team of journalists writing articles for us, but we are always welcoming other people to write an article for us too! Did your antenna organize an interesting event or did something happen that you think we should write about? Contact us by e-mail and we will let you know if we would like to have an article about your suggested topic!
Once you have the green light, it’s time to find a journalist to write the article for you. This can be a board member of your antenna, an organiser of the event or a participant who attended the event, as long as he or she has some knowledge about the event and/or topic you want to write an article about. The average article is between 500 and 1000 words long, and should be submitted within a week in English with pictures attached to add to the final article. Next to that, there are some Guidelines we would like to share:
1. Don’t make yourself the center of attention. Especially if you are writing about an event, it’s important to realize that you are writing on behalf of something and therefore should avoid using “we” or “I”. Try to write from the so called ‘third person’, and objectively describe the event.
2. Make use of quotes. If you want to add opinions to your article, which can be an interesting addition, you can always ask people involved in the event what they thought about it. Remember to mention them with their name, surname, antenna and role they had in the event, while using citation marks (“ “) around the quote.
3. Structure your article. Make sure your article starts with an introduction of 1-4 lines, where you give the reader a sense of what he/she can expect of your article. If you are writing about an event, you can for example mention when and where it took place and by who it was organised. After the introduction, divide your text into paragraphs, using subheadings if you want, and finish with a nice ending.
4. Give your article a catchy headline. To attract the attention of readers, it’s important to have a headline that both summarizes what the article will be about and also makes people want to read the article. It is easiest to think of the headline when you are done writing the article, because you will know what the content is. Take a look at other articles on The AEGEEan to get inspiration for headlines!
5. Take credit for your article. Everyone should know who wrote the article, so don’t forget to write your name and antenna at the end of the article like this: “Written by X Y, AEGEE-XY”.
After you finished writing, you can send your article to the general e-mail address. One of the Editors will check it, and contact you if something needs to be changed and again when the article is published on The AEGEEan. Do not hesitate to contact them if you have any questions while writing the article – we are here to help you!