Assignment:

Produce a news feature-style story about a relevant current issue or person. This approximately 600-word story (can be longer but not much shorter) must be accompanied by two other elements: a photo, an audio clip, a video clip, a data visualization, an illustration.

It can be
Please make sure that this assignment is local meaning it is something about Vancouver, you have at least 4-5 quotes from people and at least two statistics.

– a profile about a person or organization that has some connection to a current news event (a small restaurant or gym owner and what the whole pandemic roller-coaster has been like for them and how they are coping; the local food bank and how it’s been doing under the current status; a student who has decided to do some interesting volunteer work to reduce climate change)

– a trend (the increase in a certain type of work style; the popularity of a new kind of cuisine/restaurant; a change in the way coaching works for youth sports;

– a spin-off about an issue that is currently in the news. Pandemic: how are gyms coping with the new shutdown. U.S. election: What are the feelings among some Americans living in Vancouver about how things are evolving. The province’s decision to freeze rents: how is that affecting tenants or landlords, some individual stories. Christmas: It’s coming, how is everyone preparing.

What I’ll be looking for:

– You have found the main character for your story and have their personal story included.

– You have more than just anecdotes and quotes. You have background information about the issue at hand, statistics or authoritative reports from elsewhere.

– You write in a feature style, so some description, colour, scene-setting included.

– You have a paragraph (the “nut graph”) somewhere near the start that clearly lets the reader know what this story is about

– You have vivid quotes, well-placed

– Your story is organized into coherent sections

– Your two additional elements add new information to the story (they don’t just repeat it) and are relevant and understandable.