Making the News

With hundreds of CIOs on Grounds and thousands of students involved in all sorts of activities and service throughout the Charlottesville community, there's always something happening at the University. If The Cavalier Daily were to write an article about every club event or service project, the newspaper would probably be too heavy to lift each day — or at least too long to hold your interest. As a result, The Cavalier Daily constantly makes decisions about which events and activities to cover.

How do we determine what makes the front page and what gets a shout-out in one of our weekly calendars? The News section (we hope we don't have to tell you where to find this one) usually researches and writes about five stories each day about topics as different as state and national politics, Student Council referenda and crime in Charlottesville. Your organization's activity might be cool, but it's got to compete against all these other topics. In other words, it's got to stand out.

For example, if your organization hosts an annual fundraiser that typically nets $10,000 for a local charity, we think that's great. That being said, we most likely won't be able to feature it in the News section unless there's something that makes it stand out from past years' or other groups' fundraisers. Maybe you raised more money than a fundraiser on Grounds ever has before or you worked together with a large group of U.Va. organizations and departments to put on a big event or lecture series for the first time. If that's the case, you should definitely let our News editors know.

Even if your organization's activities may not qualify for coverage in article form on the News page, The Cavalier Daily reports on student activities in several other ways. The News page often has a couple of artistic photographs, accompanied by descriptive photo captions, showing readers glimpses of life around Grounds. These images range from shots of dance groups performing to the smiling faces of student organizations' new executive boards, so contact News if your group's activity could be covered through a photo — they'll try to send a photographer your way.

Another way that student organizations frequently get press coverage is through our Life page. Every Friday, Life's community-themed page features a University CIO that might otherwise be relatively unknown to the University community. If you think your group does something people would like to know about, drop Life an e-mail.

We hope you'll continue to let us know when a group you're involved with is doing something special. Though we may not be able to feature your group every time you e-mail us, perseverance helps — keep us posted on what you're up to and one of your group's activities might be featured in The Cavalier Daily.