How Material Should Be Submitted:
Material should be submitted before the deadline, which is the first of each uneven month: January, March, May, July, September. (Note: no column due in November) E-mail your column to the assistant editor either as an attached MSWord document (preferred) or paste it into the message of an e-mail. Send to Rebecca Tachna at rstudiot@optonline.net and name your e-mail and any attachment with your club's name first -- "Austin GRC MCC."
Please use upper and lower case format. Try to limit your column to three double-spaced pages. Please follow the format you see in the GRNews for the header: club name flush left all caps, title of your column centered all caps, author's name upper/lower case with "by" lowercase.
SUNFLOWER GRC
IS SPORTSMANSHIP DEAD?
by Samuel Adams
Every MCC should have contact information at the end of the column. Please provide street, city, state, zip; phone and e-mail contact or club URL; abbreviate where possible.
12 Stoney Cir., Birmingham, AL 64023; 612/446-0340; sadams@spacenet.com
If you are in doubt about the proper spelling of a word, look it up in a dictionary and run spellchecker. Proofread your material before sending.
Dog's names should be in upper case and the owner's or co-owner's last names in parentheses: i.e., CH. SKIPPY POWER (Young/Smith).
What Should Be In Your Column:
News and information about your club and its members. Spotlight a member who has done something interesting. Write about events your club has put on. Your views on subjects related to Goldens are always welcome. Don't be afraid to tackle controversial subjects that stimulate thought and dialog.
BREED
Report on wins in conformation of a major or higher, Best of Breed or higher wins at all-breed shows, Best in Specialty Sweeps (BISS), Best Opposite Sex in Specialty Sweeps (BOSS), and Best in Specialty Match (BISM) wins. Abbreviate wherever possible: BOB, BOS, BOW, WB, WD, BISS, BOSS and consolidate multiple wins for the same dog. Do not use kennel club names or specific dates. Report on new champions. Do not use the owner's first name or the dog's call name. Show win reporting takes up a lot of valuable space in the Member Club Columns and is usually of interest only to the people in your immediate area. Don't use your literary skills trying to make show/obedience/field win reporting interesting. Save those skills for the rest of your column. Your local club newsletter is the place for a detailed recounting of an individual dog's placements at shows. While we want to recognize a dog's achievements, we cannot give up space for an endless recounting of each and every point or BOB garnered. Consolidate all of it ; i.e., CH. SKIPPY POWER (Young/Smith) finished in June with three 5-point majors and he has since taken six BOB's and two Group placements. Do not list handlers of dogs. Do not report on Canadian, Mexican, Bermudian, etc., wins or titles earned. In some instances, this takes up at least one third of a column. Do not list awards such as CGC (Canine Good Citizen), TT (temperament test) or TDI (Therapy Dog International).
OBEDIENCE
We will recognize dogs as they add titles – not individual legs. We are happy to report on High in Trials (HIT) and will list the score, but not the trial or specific date. We will also list first place wins at the time the title is earned; i.e., SKIPPY POWER CD (Young/Smith) earned his CDX in June with two first place awards and one HIT (198). If Skippy won the NOC or something of that magnitude, a more detailed report is merited and you should report extensively on it.
FIELD
Same as above. First place wins and/or titles as they are added. Same applies to hunt test titles.
IN GENERAL
People who belong to more than one member club should decide in which Member Club column they want their wins reported. We will not duplicate individual member's wins or news. Since individual members usually report their wins to the columnists, police yourselves and be fair to the rest of the membership. The space is valuable –this is a case where once is enough.
The GRNews has a Specialty and Events Calendar that is the place for your club's forthcoming events, dates, information and people to contact. Don't use valuable column space to list all this info – it doesn't belong there. Send it to Ellen Hardin. She does a wonderful job compiling all of it and turning it into the calendar. Do not send your dates to me and tell me you just didn't have time to send Ellen an e-mail!
If you are a new columnist, please keep your personal introduction short. Also, if your club has not submitted a column for some time, do not go back for the past year and list all the information that should have been reported during that time. This is not fair to the rest of the clubs. Report only current information.
We are happy to report on your local club's year-end trophy winners – try to keep it brief without detailed explanations of what each trophy is awarded for. We will not give a year-end recounting of all your local club's title winners. This should have been reported during the calendar year as each title was earned.
Over the years we have had valuable information come out of the Member Club Columns. Every issue I receive requests from owners of other breeds for copies of your columns. Your writings on breeding, sportsmanship, health issues, etc., span all breeds of dogs and are sought after. Your thoughts and informative ideas are valuable to us!
Editor
