The Press Service International young writer program philosophy is to convey their 'Voice' into the marketplace of ideas with university standard English a secondary consideration. This has now been endorsed by the latest philosophy in communicating to our current fresh generations.
Young writer Cheryl McGrath spoke at One Day in Melbourne on 3 June 2017 on Mission Publications Philosophy and was one of several young writers and editors who wrote and added an Editor Note for the young writer weekly memo.
This was Cheryl's “Editor Note” in 20017 in the 'weekly young writer memo' on this subject. It is worthy of being repeated.
The rise of the grammar Nazi – Cheryl McGrath
Hi everyone. This week, I'm looking at prescriptivism in grammar.
If you're a writer, you'll no doubt have met up with some self-confessed 'grammar Nazis'.
These are folk who know their commas from their semicolons, and will tell you that 'incredible' is a term that doesn't mean 'amazing' but 'that which cannot be credited'. These are also people who win fights on the internet by pointing out that someone used 'your' instead of 'you're'.
Now I'm all for being literate and using language well. I have a strong grasp of grammar and spelling, because it's my job (I'm an editor) and I'm trained in this way. But why this elitism about knowing these things?
For one thing, language and grammar rules change all the time. The English language is particularly fraught with case-by-case rules and words than have co-existing meanings. Words like 'decimated' now mean 'obliterated', but used to mean 'destroy one in ten'. We can't freeze language -- it moves on without us otherwise.
Secondly, good writing isn't just about good punctuation or grammar -- and actually, these are the least important parts of good writing. It's more important to think critically and deliver ideas well - than to put an apostrophe in the right place.
This is a fantastic article by about this very subject, and I highly recommend you check it out: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140923-dont-be-a-grammar-nazi?ocid=ww.social.link.facebook
Young writers philosophy
The young writer ministry has consistently held this philosophy since our inception in 2009. It is part of the reason they have had such strong readership in Christian Today.
Their readers thoroughly enjoy the style of writing that purports critical thinking and deliver ideas well and this has been the mainstay of the program.
It comes from a philosophy I adopted with my 16 books on train driver's anecdotes which essentially is 'oral history' where the speech conveyed was with warts and all and although a niche market these books sold out …..
Over the years the program has adopted tutors and 'week editors' who have worked hard to tidy up some of these rougher edges without changing the tone of the 'oral history' motif.
In 2016 the then chief editor Sophia Sinclair, the 2017 winner of the Australasian Religious Press Association's (ARPA) Ramon Williams Youth Scholarship produced a Style Guide for the young writers where Sophia encourages the young writers to - “write as you speak”.
University essay articles are strongly discouraged. The young writer program with Christian Today is not an university English class. There are plenty of web sites both secular and Christian who are English perfect where they can submit their articles and where readership is a trickle.
Strong readership
The young writers published in Christian Today have a remarkable readership and there are a number of reasons for this.
The nature of the written style is a welcome change in Christian literary genre where real stories are told from the grass roots.
The articles through Christian Today are linked into the parents ministry – CMCI – Christian Media Corporation Incorporated with mastheads such as The Christian Post (USA), Christian Today UK, Christian Today International and similar mastheads in Europe, Canada, India, Australia and New Zealand. Networking is the name of the game.
We encourage other Christian publications to republish these young writers, first because they are superb articles with brilliant ideas and critical thinking, also to give these young writers' names additional by-lines for future reference and possibly contractual employment as writers.
We welcome new prospective young writers to become part of the young writer program, aged between 18-30, contact Dr Mark Tronson - timeout@bushorchestra.com
Photo - Tronson du Coudray art ‘Optical Illusion’
Dr Mark Tronson - a 4 min video
Chairman – Well-Being Australia
Baptist Minister 45 years
- 1984 - Australian cricket team chaplain 17 years (Ret)
- 2001 - Life After Cricket (18 years Ret)
- 2009 - Olympic Ministry Medal – presented by Carl Lewis
- 2019 - The Gutenberg - (ARPA Christian Media premier award)
Gutenberg video - 2min 14sec
Married to Delma for 45 years with 4 children and 6 grand children
