SPA Newsletter – November ’17 - Student Publication Association

SPARC season ends with South regional conference

Splash Sunday – 17/12

Published by Jessica Frank-Keyes

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Whew.. deep breath. I don’t mean to panic anyone, but I think it might be nearly Christmas?! Guys..? Guys! Seriously, where did November go? This month has absolutely flown by at SPA HQ (yes we do have a secret base, we’re like the Avengers. And by base, I mean Google Hangouts.)

So what have we been up to..? Squeezing in judging our first set of SPARC awards was no mean feat, especially as we were all so blown away by the amount and quality of the entries we received. You knocked it out of the park – and I’m already intimidated by the thought of judging SPANC entries in a few months time. Massive congratulations to all our winners, and huge thanks of course to our fantastic regional officers for arranging the conferences. We’d also love to hear what you think we could have done better. More snacks? Different award categories? Fewer workshops? Let us know!

We also closed bids to host #SPANC18 – the highlight of the SPA year. Details of the two universities competing, Hunger Games style, to host you all next spring, are on our Facebook and Twitter feeds. Let us know your thoughts. To Cardiff and Lancaster, may the odds be ever in your favour.

You can also check out our latest set of committee articles on the website, including round-ups of our regional conferences.

– Jess

Committee Updates

Dan Falvey – Chair

I think this month has been our busiest so far as an executive committee. The most important things I’ve been up to this month: along with the rest of the exec, I judged the SPA’s first ever regional awards and I’ve been helping with the final preparations for our five SPARCs which took place throughout the month (with all credit to their successes going to our amazing regional officers).

I’ve also been doing round-ups of each conference for the website so feel free to find out more about how great SPARC season has been online.

Jessica Frank-Keyes – Membership & Communication

It’s been a busy month for all our officers, with loads going on, from SPARCs to #SPANC18 bids – which means its been a busy month for Communications! Along with the rest of the team I’ve been helping to judge the regional awards, and looking at all our members’ comments on the two fantastic bids we’ve had from Cardiff and Lancaster – as well as sending out all your regularly scheduled email updates.

Please keep sending in your submissions for Splash Sundays – I love reading them, and no story is ever too big or too small.

James Chesson – Digital Media

This month I added a moving slider with all our sponsors to the website. If you hover over a logo in the slider, it will pause giving you the opportunity to click through to the sponsors’ websites.

The website also featured round ups of our Regional Conferences, including lists of the award winners at each one. Expect a final round up this week covering SPARC South, which I attended and somehow even ended up attempting to speak at following a no-show.

Megan Baynes – Marketing & Events

This month we’ve finalised another sponsor: Gorkana. Check them out for the latest journalism jobs. We’ve also opened up our two fantastic SPANC hosting bids from Cardiff and Lancaster to our members for feedback.

Hopefully next week we’ll have some exciting news to announce about exactly WHERE #SPANC18 is going to be held…

Conor Matchett – Development

It’s been an incredibly exciting and busy month in Development, as not only did we have the successful Scotland, Wales, London, Midlands, and South Regional Conferences, but we also had the first ever iteration of the brand new SPARC Awards.

Congratulations to all the winners across all the regions, and keep your eyes peeled for #SPANC18 when the winner of a new, Region of the Year Award, will be announced! A big shout out also to our amazing Regional Officers who have worked so hard over the last few months to pull off their Regional Conferences!

Want to be featured in the next newsletter?

Front page you’re particularly proud of? Your paper’s anniversary? Shiny new redesign? Get in touch with communications@spajournalism.com with and we’ll share your news, events and successes with our members across the UK and Ireland.