Monday, October 13, 2008

KUDOS for Oct. 7 Issue

This was a pretty solid issue. Good writing, decent photos, provocative opinions and heads-up sports. Well done! Starting with pi, the article on incoming president Steven Tallant by Patricia Reiss was well-written and the layout - although a little blue - had the nice graphic that helped explain the 90-day plan. Erika had a solid story on Hispanic voters and a good report on Dr. Goswami's speech. Tania's SGA coverage is the best we've had in recent years and she continues to improve. Thanks. And, Savannah wrote a solid story. Wow. Layoutwise, the blue screen on Tallant made it look like he was working at night....kind of worked, but? Also, the Aztec Indians should have been bigger. We misse a good chance to display this photo well. Of course, just for good measure, we still have the eggy weather section. Page 2 did better with the "Focus On Us" feature, but we still need a good solid photo here. The blotter is still a hit. The review was decent and the review on the Kingsville Symphony Concert very well done. Our reviews are getting stronger, guys and gals. Well done. As for Chupi, I'm starting to understand, I think. Campus News, Page 3, was excellent with the exception of not having a big photo at the top. It was a very newsy and the "Benchwarmers" story was probably the hit of the campus. Officially, they are now stars. The Ed/Ops page had a very nice analysis by Kristie on the campaign 2008. We need more of this and we can't let up now. We have to have this all the way to the election. The "Work-Study" editorial was solid and, more importantly, local. Local editorials and columns should be our priority on this page. Mary Beth's column on Sarah Palin was a nice change of pace. Layoutwise, nice big cartoon. Okay. But, the bug on Mary Beth's column is very weak. Make her name bigger and also center it. This type of mistake can stop us from winning a design award and is also very distracting. Not much else to say on Page 5 - Sports. Solid stories, good photos and good charitcle. Page 6 was a well-designed Homecoming page. I like the way someone added the week's events at the bottom. The photos also reproduced well, this time. A good effort by all. Thanks! As for KUDOS.....while the work was very good this week on the printed version, there were some interesting things going on with the online version of The South Texans that were just very exciting. Bob Pena and Serbrina Salinas have revamped the site. We have a webcast now and also PDFs of each issue. This took a lot of work. Go visit the site tamuk.edu/southtexan and see what all the fuss is about. For their efforts, Bob and Serbrina are in the pot. Well done. Thanks!

KUDOS for Sept. 30 Issue

Finally, a newspaper with some politics. The Page 1 story on "A&M-Kingsville ready to vote" was heart-warming to see. The most important election of this generation's future is about to take place and it is our job and responsibility to inform the college student population of their options. Tania's article was perfect at this time and place. Also, we had two solid stories on pi with Kristie's "enrollment increase" story and Kiki's solid story on the "planet hunt." We even had a graphic on enrollment. Wow, who did that? Our weakness on pi continues to be weak photographs. Our writing is improving. Another weakness is our teaser. It seems unplanned. Of course, as long as it's "sunny and hot" we're going to have the fried egg symbols on our excellent 3-day weather forecast. Well, at least they get our attention. Page 2 is still developing. We are still developing our "Focus On Us." This should be the Chief Photographers No. 1 duty, after working with the page 2 designer. Here, we had photos of people's butts and backs. Not good. We can do better. The police blotter is assuming an identity of its own. Leanna Guerra, our cub reporter, is doing an excellent job. Well done Leanna. Thanks. Also, two solid stories by Patricia Reiss and Arty Maldonado. Patricia's story could have been a longer, but I understand we had space issues. Patricia also had a solid story on the India Culture event at Jones, on page 3. She has been a very pleasant addition to our staff and helps out on Monday during deadline. Tania continued to improve with the UPD story and Edwin added a solid story on "Savage in Limbo." Page 3 is full of campus news. That's good. What's lacking? Student features. Maybe Patricia, Edwin or Tania can keep this up. Page 4 is also full of campus news. Good stories by Amanda Marcum, Erika Hernandez (great lead) and Adrian Trevino. Adrian still needs work on news style, but he is getting there. Ed/Ops was pretty good. It still lacks planning and thus seems disorganized. JC had a solid column. Well done And, so did Adrian. Nice feature on Bayfest, We had a nice scene setting picture, but we used too many photos. I think we need to limit our use of photos to no more than 5 in a photo spread. Sports is solid again, but we still need two things from this are: bigger photos and more features. On the features, we have a winning team. Our students need to know the personalities who have helped us be successful. We also had a nice effort on the Spanish page. My one complaint is that it's not "newsy" enough. Also, the Senoirta Herencia Hispana story should have run somewhere in English. Well, it's time for KUDOs. With the work Tania has done recently and the work Adrian continues to do, along with the work of Leanna Guerra on the police blotter...these three cub reporters get the honor. Well done. You're in the pot for the $100. Thanks for your hard work.