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championship covers?

Discussion in 'Design Discussion' started by jps, Nov 10, 2008.

  1. jps

    jps Active Member

    so we've got a soccer team that is two wins away from a state championship ... just trying to think ahead, any good ideas for a championship cover? Is the huge hed/huge photo the best way to go? never had to put one together before.
     
  2. Dickens Cider

    Dickens Cider New Member

    Could you have made your question any more open-ended?

    Go to News Page Designer and poke around. Come back with something more specific.

    Not trying to be a smart-ass, but it's really hard to say without knowing more.
     
  3. jps

    jps Active Member

    sorry, dc ... point taken. I'm over there a bit, actually. and was just sort of looking for general thoughts. my first thinking is, if they win, of course, making them the lone front-page story. big kicker hed, subhed and big photo.

    (I'm relatively new to design and am really sort of just learning as I go ... hence the lame questions.)
     
  4. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    Play around a little. Create some dummy pages ahead of time if you can, keeping in mind you have no idea what kind of art you're going to get. Create one for a vertical shot, one with a horizontal shot and one with a square shot.

    Some breakout boxes never hurt. Keys to the game, a key stat, a key play, maybe a cutout of a key. just kidding.

    Good luck.
     
  5. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    I did a state champions hede once when a team in my coverage area won the state's baseball championship.

    I went with an all caps hede of STATE CHAMPIONS! with a huge photo of the players celebrating their semifinal win (Our photog wasn't at the state final), plus a cutline which explained that the photo was from the semifinal and the gamer. That was on the front of the front page of the paper.

    I went for the simpler is better approach.
     
  6. jps

    jps Active Member

    that's pretty much what I went with, actually, here. turned out pretty well.
     
  7. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    BINGO!!

    Nothing says "champions" like "CHAMPIONS!" (I like the all caps for emphasis). Then you can play around with whatever in the subhead(s). Also, if you have multiple stories (gamer, sidebar, column, etc.), it sort of ties them all together.

    I am saying this just for local, primarily preps or if you have a university team in town. I don't mean I always do it for the Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, etc.
     
  8. frogscribe

    frogscribe Member

    STATE CHAMPS. In 72-point hammer. I did this last year when the school I cover (one high school community) won state in softball.
    Kids and parents will save the state championship edition forever. They like to read "State champs."
    It's simple, but it's what the readers want, IMHO.
     
  9. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    Excellent. Amazing how many people keep this stuff in scrapbooks, etc.
     
  10. The Granny

    The Granny Guest

    One time I let the art dictate the hed for our state title team. It was a great shot of a running back flipping into the end zone after a hit.

    FLIPPIN' SWEET was the hammer.
     
  11. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    I've done championship covers. But my best two were for weeklies.

    I've covered 8 state title games (1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2007) in all and more times than not relied on somebody else back at the desk each time, and something always got fucked up. But hey, I got an "Associated Press" byline on one of my stories. ::) That fucker no longer works for me.
     
  12. flexmaster33

    flexmaster33 Well-Known Member


    good advice...For state champions we create a full-page spread...game story...some interesting side angle, and along the bottom we'll run mug shots for the starters/team (depending how many athletes we're talking). Be creative and try several run throughs...once you start playing with it you'll see things you like. And if they lose, you'll have those ideas the next time a team makes a run.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2015
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