Submission Guidelines for Public Affairs Officers

Text and photos submitted to Army Public Affairs may be posted to the Army Internet site, published in The Maple Leaf or used in a variety of other communications products.

Procedures

1. Obtain approval for the article from a public affairs officer or chain-of-command.

2. Ensure that all facts are accurate. Have the subject matter expert review your final draft for accuracy, not style.

3. Submit articles (regardless of original language) with accompanying photos via email. to both print-web editors at the Ottawa Production Centre.

Article guidelines

Write tight — 400 words maximum for news articles and 550 words maximum for features. Total word count includes body text only.

Write a short, active headline of five to 10 words, 50 character maximum, spaces included (e.g., Roto 1 departs for Afghanistan on Op Archer). Capitalize only the first word and proper nouns in headlines.

Write out in full the first reference to a person, always using ranks or honorifics. Subsequent references are shortened. (E.g. Sergeant Pete Maltais, then Sgt Maltais; and for civilians, Hal Doran, then Mr. Doran)

Avoid the use of too many abbreviations and always write out the first reference to a unit in full followed by the correct abbreviation: 1 Military Police Platoon (1 MP Pl).

Capitalize the name of operations or exercises as follows: Op Archer.

Write out single digit number (e.g. two guns) except when the number is part of a unit name (e.g. 3 PPCLI)

Formatting

• Use Arial font, 12 points
• Set line spacing to single
• Start all paragraphs at the left margin, no indent
• Leave a blank line between paragraphs
• Do not set up spacing using the Format Paragraph command of Word
• Use a single space after periods
• Save the file in Rich Text Format (RTF)

Photo guidelines

Photos may be posted to the Army website. The photos may also be published in The Maple Leaf or used in other communications products.

• A minimum of five photos is required, six is preferred

Each photo must be:

• JPEG format at quality 8
• Minimum printable size of 5 x 7 inches at 300 dpi
• File size should be in the 1 to 1.5 MB range. Larger file sizes are difficult to handle
• A caption for each image is to be included at the end of the article. Each caption describes the action and identifies people in the photo. Keep captions tight — one or two sentences (150 characters)
• Include a photo credit with each caption: PHOTO: MCPL PETER SIMPSON
• If you did not take the photo, ensure that you have permission to use the image(s) and that each photo is credited accordingly

Photos that do not meet these guidelines will not be used.

Writing Tips

Keep your readers in mind. Who's my audience? What do they need to know? What do they want to know? Why am I telling this story?

Answer the journalistic five W's: who, what, when, why, where and how while telling the story.

Start with the most important facts. Readers often don't read a whole article.

Stick to the facts. Ensure that all facts are accurate. Have the subject matter expert review your final draft for accuracy, not style.

Write tight. You are writing a news story, not a novel.

Use active verbs. Have people doing things, not having things done to them.

Quotes are important. Include quotes from people involved in the story. Let the soldier say the exercise was a success, exciting, useful, or boring. Let the soldier say if the equipment is more efficient, the boots more comfortable, or there is a problem, etc.

Avoid adding your opinions. You are not writing an editorial.

Avoid summing up, wrapping up or writing a conclusion to your article. It is not necessary in news writing.

Double check:

The spelling for

• people
• places
• exercises
• operations
• equipment
• ranks
• units

and that your story includes

• dates
• locations
• first names
• photo credits
• bylines
• tag lines

Sample news article

Young Germans experience Canadian winter training [HEADLINE– 50 CHARACTERS, spaces included]

By Sgt Todd Berry

Goose Bay, Labrador - The German Army's top officer candidates joined the Goose Bay Patrol of 5 Canadian Rangers Patrol Group, in April on Exercise Combined Effort. The joint patrol travelled three hundred kilometres on snowmobiles over central Labrador.

"Based on the geographical circumstances in Europe, we cannot conduct this type of training," said Lieutenant-Colonel Raymond Zawalski, German Army Liaison Officer. "I think the weather conditions and specifically how the Rangers work and what their mission is here in this great country is something that I want them to take back to Germany.

"This is an awards program," LCol Zawalski continued. "The program began in 1999 awarding the top ten Oberfahnrich (comparable to the Officer Cadet rank of the Canadian Forces) the opportunity to visit foreign armies in order to comprehend how different nations organize, train and equip their forces."

It's the experience of the Rangers that these highly motivated young German Officers Cadets fed off of during their visit.

Prior to going on the land, a few critical lessons were taught under the skilful guidance of Chief Warrant Officer Pat White, Warrant Officer Frank Power and others from Goose Bay Patrol. Within two days the Germans were confident in erecting a prospector tent and how to safely operate a snowmobile on snow and ice.

"The Rangers are very good. Our Ranger showed us a lot of things about what we can do on the ice," said Oberfahnrich (OFR) Keul.

"It was an excellent opportunity for the Canadian Ranger program as well, especially 5 Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, to have an opportunity to train with another nation. It kept their skills sharp and kept the Rangers active," stated CWO White.

"As well, we practiced a little bit of interoperability between nations which went very well."

"I wish we would have more of these programs so that Canadians could come over to Germany and I hope also that German soldiers will continue to have a chance to come over here," said LCol Zawalski, "just to meet people, the country, the landscape. It’s just wonderful."

Article and photos by Sergeant Todd Berry, Army News, Halifax

AX2008-0077d
Civilian Supply clerk, Barry Massie, issues German Army Oberfahnrich Oliver Schmidt with Canadian Forces, Air Force Blue, cold weather clothing.
PHOTO: SGT TODD BERRY

AX2008-0082d
Goose Bay Ranger Patrol commander, Lieutenant Joe Anderson, briefs German Army Oberfahnrichs on the destination and routes to be taken during Exercise Combined Effort.
PHOTO: SGT TODD BERRY

AX2008-0087d
Warrant Officer Frank Power, 5 Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, gives snowmobile driving instructions to German Army Oberfahnrichs (Officer Cadets).
PHOTO: SGT TODD BERRY

AX2008-0097d
Germany’s best Oberfahnrichs (Officer Cadets) guided by members of the Goose Bay Patrol, 5 Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, set up camp on the shore of Lake Melville at Long Point during Exercise Combined Effort.
PHOTO: SGT TODD BERRY