2018 has been a remarkable year for the young writer ministry which is a combined effort by Press Service International and Christian Today, the publisher.
These are some of the highlights
2018 young writers just as enthusiastic as previous years
The Over 31s were separated from 18-30s year olds for marking
Brains Trust met during One Day in Melbourne mission
Weekly memo tried various models – finally listing weekly articles
Christchurch annual young writers conference, largest to date
Best Article Awards and Major Awards
Initiated the ‘news’ and ‘newsy bits’ video
Quite a number of new Panellists for 2019
Cycle 10
There are 10 Cycles of 5 weeks of young writers – in other words, each young writer has published 10 articles year. They are locked into this schedule to ensure there are a set number of young writers each day.
Each of the 5 Weeks has a coordinator who sends out the reminders for their due dates, and each Week has its own editor. In additional each week has a dedicated person who selects the photos for each article unless the young writer sends in their own photo.
Should a young writer be unable to send in an article due to the pressure of university assignments or exams or such like, then a previous article is selected with a change the title and makes adjustments such as time and date issues.
This Friday is the due date for Week 1 – the international young writers – Cycle 10, their final article for 2018.
10 articles
It is no small feat to sit down and ponder what subject to tackle for their “comment” article for each of the 10 Cycles. Rarely do we find the young writers covering the exact same arena for discussion. There is such a breadth of subject matter ‘out there’ that these young writers find plenty of scope for their articles.
This Cycle 10 in effect, is the final article for each young writer in the program. This is a major issue as the final piece fort publication in Christian Today they like to be significant.
85 young writers – England, Canada, USA, West Indies, China, ambique, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia – all choosing different topics, all dedicated and focused – 850 articles over the year. This is no small feat spiritually let alone physically.
Moreover the people behind the scenes that make it all work is another story – these people including the panellists, the statisticians, the editors, the coordinators, the photo selectors, the brain’s trust, the conference organisers, and not least Christian Today – we’re talking - mission impact!
Theology Award
Christmas - New Year
No one wants to be trying to fit in an article Christmas week, so how we cover that situation is to bring the 5th Week ‘due articles’ back a full week to the same due date as Week 4. This means Christmas week is free of writing duty.
The first two weeks of January every year are when the Best Articles (from the conference awards) are republished in Christian Today as the Best of 2018.
Then the 2019 young writer publishing year commences on Monday 14 January with the international young writers – Week 1. This is happenstance as the northern hemisphere is in their winter whereas Australians and New Zealanders are in the midst of their high summer holiday period.
Young people 18-30 years interested in writing for Christian Today with your own column please connect with Dr Mark Tronson timeout@bushorchestra.com 0419 917 713
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html