How SNN Works

What is SNN?

SNN -- along with its French counterpart, Rédaction de Rescol -- is a national online journalism program for all Kindergarten to Grade 12 students in Canada. SNN is published on the World Wide Web once a month and updated whenever new stories are sent in.

What can we write about?

You can write about whatever interests you -- current events, breaking news, sports, arts and entertainment, social issues, hobbies, education, technology or lifestyles. Your story can have a local, provincial, national, or even international angle.

The story can take various forms -- a news article that quotes different people, a feature that takes an in-depth look at a person, place or thing, a review of a book, a movie or a CD, a story on a sports event or personality, or a column that expresses your point of view on a given subject.

If you're looking for ideas, check out SNN's Story Ideas. The story ideas list is constantly updated and reporters can identify what story they're working on for an upcoming issue of SNN.

If you'd like to work on a story with other reporters from across Canada, send a message to the Coordinator.

How long can the stories be?

The Internet has almost unlimited space. That gives reporters and editors some freedom when it comes to the length of the stories on SNN. But keep in mind that your readers have limited time — and they may not want to spend an hour reading just one story.

Most stories for SNN should run from 200 to 800 words. Feature stories can be a little longer.

What equipment do I need to take part in SNN?

That depends on what you want to do. In order to look at the SNN page and read the stories and sections, you'll need access to the Internet and the World Wide Web. You may also want to use the Web to do research for your stories.

It would be helpful for you to have e-mail if you want to send stories, photos and graphics to SNN - - but it's not absolutely necessary. See section below for details.

If you want to record video for SNN, you will need a video camera or a camcorder.

If you want to record sound and voices, you will a video camera, a digital audio tape recorder or a high-quality cassette tape recorder.

How do I use sounds and pictures in my story?

Photos, graphics, sound and video add a lot to a story -- they help bring the people and places in your story to life for your readers. See the section on Sounds and Images for some details on how to take good photos and record sound and images for publication online.

How can I send my stories to SNN?

• If you don't have easy access to e-mail, you can fax your story to (709)737-2179 or send it by Canada Post. Our mailing address is:

• If you have access to a computer and an e-mail account, you can send your stories to: snn@stemnet.nf.ca
  
  
• You can include your stories as attachments (in a program like Word Perfect, Word, Wordpad) or copy and paste the story into your message. Please don't encode your stories (a process used to keep others from reading the contents of your message as it is sent through the Internet).
  
  
• You can send photos by scanning them and sending them as e-mail messages. If your school does not have access to a scanner, you can send your photos to SNN through the mail and we'll scan the images, and send them back to you.
  
  
• Graphics may be e-mailed with the stories and they can be in whatever format you wish. Or you can send them by mail in printed form or on disk.
  
  
• If you have video and audio clips, you can send the cassette to SNN by mail or courier. Be sure to label the tape and indicate where the section you've included in your story starts and ends.
  
  
• You can also send video and audio as e-mail attachments. Video clips should be saved in the MPEG, Video for Windows (.avi), or QuickTime (.mov) format. Audio clips should be sent in WAV or Sun Audio (.au) format.
  
  
• Before you use any photos, graphics, video or audio tape, refer to the section Ethics and the Law to learn more about copyright and authorized use of materials.
  
  
• Check out the Story Ideas page for deadlines and publishing dates.

Back to About SNN