Writing Workshop Set for September 17-18 at Medill School of Journalism.

The Third Annual AAN/Medill Alternative Journalism Writing Workshop is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, September 17-18, at the Medill School of Journalism in Evanston, Ill.

AAN Editorial Chairperson David Carr (Washington City Paper ) looks forward to taking “some major steps this year toward adding to the AAN writer’s tool kit and professional development. Writing is an ineffable enterprise, but we’re doing our best to come up with the kind of real world scenarios and approaches that reporters can use week after week. The management of sources, bureaucracies, and, worst of all, editors, is a problem all writers share in common, so it makes sense that we are coming together with smart people from inside and outside of our racket to discuss ways of surmounting those challenges.”

Judy Davidoff of Isthmus, who attended the first two workshops, says, “The AAN writing workshops provide practical instruction on such topics as editorial organization, writing style and reporting techniques. In one of last year’s best workshops, participants broke up into smaller groups to debate examples of real-life ethical dilemmas that face writers and editors.”

That particular session, moderated by Carr, will be repeated this year, and its focus on interactivity and probing inquiry will be extended to all of this year’s Medill workshops. For instance, the first day of the conference will be dedicated entirely to small group discussions — led by experienced AAN editors — on topics such as “Bring Me a Lede That Will Make Them Weep,” “Finding News in Arts Reporting,” and “This Story Sucks. How Come?”

Registration forms will be mailed to publishers and editors on Wednesday, 4 August. For a current schedule of the Medill Workshop or to register online with a credit card, please click here.