This year resulted in so much more than I could ever have expected before becoming part of the Watch as the online editor. I knew I would be busy, and I knew that it would be time-consuming, but I was shocked by how much time I was spending on prepping things for the site or talking to readers and writers. Even though a lot of my free-time was spent working on the Watch, I’m happy that it was. I’ve learned so much this year about being part of an editing team, and about myself as a journalist.
The year started with a site makeover, which was a great way to begin. Finding stories and writers was a bit difficult at first, but as I figured out what worked best things got much easier. Since I’ve been re-elected, I’ll be starting the year with all of the ideas that I wasn’t able to experiment with this year.
I definitely want to work on finding more contributors next year. So many stories went untold this year because nobody was available to cover them. I was able to write a few myself, but I couldn’t take on all of them. I think it’s important that the Watch not only grows its contributor base but also that we encourage a diversity of contributors and topics to come to the site and magazine. I want more voices in the Watch. There are stories out there that I’m not aware of (no matter how hard I try!) and there are students who are able to tell them.
There are a variety of ways for these stories to be told, too. Most of the stories were written out this year, but some contributors worked with photo essays, videos, podcasts, infographics and more, which I find pretty exciting. These are all things that I enjoyed working with this year, and I think it would be great to see more of them next year.
This year was hard at times. I don’t think I’ve ever been tested so much in such a short amount of time. I learned a lot and I have grown as a journalist and a King’s student. I’m looking forward to using everything I learned this year to make the Watch even better next year, and I hope others feel the same way.
Hannah