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As 2011 draws to a close, we have opportunities to reflect on the past year and look forward to the new one. In addition to your news and sports top stories of the year, here are five ideas for lists that will offer readers perspective (and even some fun) as we move on to 2012.
- READERS' CHOICE: Once you've determined your local Top 10 stories, ask readers to vote using your online poll on the stories they thought were most important to your area during the past year. Another option is to use Survey Monkey to allow readers to rank their favorites. You can also ask readers to comment on Facebook and on your webiste to suggest top stories in your area and compile a list based on readers' choices.
- WEIRD NEWS: This is always a crowd-pleaser (especially online). Look through the past year for all of the weirdiest news stories from your town. These might never make your real Top 10, but when you package them, readers will get a good chuckle out of the strange stuff that happened in your town.
- PHOTOS OF THE YEAR: Show off those great shots from the year in a photo package. If you can request color for the page, that's even better (let your ad reps know your plans to see if they can sell a strip ad). Remember to look for a variety of shapes, and choose some tight shots and some stunning overall shots. You can group these into themes, too: news, features, sports, reader-submitted photos and overall best. Then you can run a photo page each day during that last week of the year. Remember to package them online in galleries. People love looking at photos.
- TOPICS: Have each of your reporters do a Top 10 for stories on their beats: education, city/county government, health, business, etc.
- READER INVOLVEMENT: Ask readers for their highlight from the past year, and choose the best to run in the paper. Ask them to submit photos, too. Then choose the top 10 reader moments from 2011, and point people online for the rest. Another possibility with reader involvement is to ask readers what they most wish for in 2012, and run a list of the best in the paper. A variation on that is to ask children what they wish for, but you'll need to act fast, since schools will be wrapping up soon for the break.
As 2011 draws to a close, we have opportunities to reflect on the past year and look forward to the new one. In addition to your news and sports top stories of the year, here are five ideas for lists that will offer readers perspective (and even some fun) as we move on to 2012.
- READERS' CHOICE: Once you've determined your local Top 10 stories, ask readers to vote using your online poll on the stories they thought were most important to your area during the past year. Another option is to use Survey Monkey to allow readers to rank their favorites. You can also ask readers to comment on Facebook and on your webiste to suggest top stories in your area and compile a list based on readers' choices.
- WEIRD NEWS: This is always a crowd-pleaser (especially online). Look through the past year for all of the weirdiest news stories from your town. These might never make your real Top 10, but when you package them, readers will get a good chuckle out of the strange stuff that happened in your town.
- PHOTOS OF THE YEAR: Show off those great shots from the year in a photo package. If you can request color for the page, that's even better (let your ad reps know your plans to see if they can sell a strip ad). Remember to look for a variety of shapes, and choose some tight shots and some stunning overall shots. You can group these into themes, too: news, features, sports, reader-submitted photos and overall best. Then you can run a photo page each day during that last week of the year. Remember to package them online in galleries. People love looking at photos.
- TOPICS: Have each of your reporters do a Top 10 for stories on their beats: education, city/county government, health, business, etc.
- READER INVOLVEMENT: Ask readers for their highlight from the past year, and choose the best to run in the paper. Ask them to submit photos, too. Then choose the top 10 reader moments from 2011, and point people online for the rest. Another possibility with reader involvement is to ask readers what they most wish for in 2012, and run a list of the best in the paper. A variation on that is to ask children what they wish for, but you'll need to act fast, since schools will be wrapping up soon for the break.
