Four Spring 2010 Chipsters in the Washington, D.C., area shared their St. Patrick’s Day evening with CQS program Co-founder John C. Quinn and Program Director Karen Catone. Here, the Scholars offer a few wee insights about what the dinner and gathering meant to them.

Photos by Karen Catone

Ashley Marchand:
I knew there would be no better [...]

Hey Scholars,
Our question this week deals with relying on the Internet as a source of information for your stories. We heard all the cautions during orientation, but sometimes, especially on deadline, those cautions might be all too easy to ignore.
So I’d like to know: Who has a tale of relying on information gleaned from the [...]

Hello Lisa, Kiah, Diane, Kristy and Nicole!
Please share an experience you’ve had with pitching a story idea to your editor.
Include the following: How did you get the idea? How did you pitch it (via e-mail, conversation, a combination, etc.)?  What was the upshot (thumbs up or down or a mix)? What did you learn from [...]

Editor’s note: The following blog entry by Marco Santana is being republished here with his permission.

By Marco Santana
To meet John Seigenthaler is to be inspired. The 82-year-old founder of the First Amendment Center in Nashville, Tenn., has lived a life that you usually only read about. Starting in 1961, he served as an administrative assistant [...]

Hello Kiah, Nicole, Lisa, Diane and Kristy,
We’ve had a request this week for help with story organization.
Please share your technique(s) for organizing your reported material into a story. How do you organize a story being written on a tight deadline?  How about a longer enterprise piece? And when do you start organizing your story — [...]

Moving on:
Sean Jensen (Summer 1996) has accepted a new position at the Chicago Sun-Times as the Chicago Bears/NFL writer and columnist. He says, “I’m very excited about the new opportunity.” Jensen was the Vikings writer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press for 10 years.
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Brenda Duran (Summer 2002) is the editor in chief of Long Beach Magazine [...]

Hello Scholars!
Who among us has to deal with assignments from more than one editor? And has anyone noticed that sometimes these editors aren’t aware of all the assignments on your plate at a given time? How do you handle the juggling game?
And/or…..If you’re fortunate to have only one editor, how [...]