championship covers?

[jps]

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.

 

[Dickens Cider]

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.

 

[jps]

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.)

 

[JackReacher]

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.

 

[forever_town]

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.

 

[jps]

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.

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

 

[Mark2010]

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.

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.

 

[frogscribe]

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.

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.

 

[Mark2010]

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

 

[The Granny]

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.

 

[Football_Bat]

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 ****ed up. But hey, I got an "Associated Press" byline on one of my stories. : That ****er no longer works for me.

 

[flexmaster33]

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.

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.

 

[young-gun11]

If somebody wins a state championship here..we say, "good job". It's kind of expected.
Of the four schools I cover, there are over 120 state titles among them.

 

[Mr. Costello]

Side note: A team representing my newsroom beat the 1A State Champions in a three-on-three basketball tournament my first month in town. We have since referred to our newsroom as "the home of the 1A boys basketball state champions."

 

[young-gun11]

Side note: A team representing my newsroom beat the 1A State Champions in a three-on-three basketball tournament my first month in town. We have since referred to our newsroom as "the home of the 1A boys basketball state champions."

Superior.

 

[young-gun11]

Had a team win its third state title in a row in softball. Went with 'Once... Twice... 3 Times a Lady (Hornet)' in a 2-deck, off-set header and a 4-column photo of the team piled up with silly string everywhere. Had a sidebar column and a feature on the 3-time state tourney MVP. It was the only thing on the front.

 

[Silence Dogood]

For state champions, play to your editorial staff strengths on sports front page. If you have a great photographer, 4-, 5-column lead art may be ideal. We have done double-truck photo spreads (6-9 photos with intentional use of white space) on both state championship teams and major disasters in our area.

The more time you have to brainstorm ideas/concepts (see Ryan Sonner's suggest on page dummies), the better the results because the alleged "bad or bad-looking ideas" will be obvious pretty quick. However that same "bad idea" may not be so obvious until after deadline if created on championship night.

Great headlines in all sizes come to those who have prepared for both the thrill and agony involved in all athletic battles.