Opinion: Tell us your ideas: Reader input sought for upcoming projects

We get them all the time — unsolicited submissions of stories or requests for our reporters to pen feature pieces about interesting people.

We always welcome them, but sometimes simply can’t get to them or, in some cases, just can’t find the “hook” — to use an industry term — to get the story into the newspaper.

Fact is, even when it doesn’t work out, I love reader-submitted ideas. Two upcoming projects offer readers a chance to get involved in The Daily Republic, and we’re hoping folks can help us out.

First, we’ve been running a brief notice on Page 2 over the past few weeks asking for readers to nominate bad stretches of roads and highways in our area. We’ll take those nominations, choose one or two and report why the roads are in disrepair, what has been done to the roads lately and what kind of hope there is for the immediate future.

The results of this project will be published in the early spring.

There still is time to submit nominations. See the notice on Page 2 for more details. It doesn’t take much; even a short sentence about a stretch of road can count as a nomination.

Another way to contribute to an upcoming project is to nominate someone for inclusion in our summer Progress Edition, which this year will revolve around the word “Great.”

Yet unnamed, the edition will include at least three distinct categories: Great People, Great Places and Great Ideas, which will be divided into various sub-categories.

Starting today, The Daily Republic will begin seeking input from readers throughout the region about who, exactly, we should be writing about as we begin work on our annual summer project.

Here are a few ideas to get you thinking:

Great People, for instance, could include but certainly is not limited to great friends (someone who donated an organ), great volunteers (someone who donates countless hours to youth programs), great leaders (longtime mayors), great inspirations (someone who overcame adversity), great artists (authors, songwriters, painters), great stories (true stories about people or places penned by our readers), great collections and great heroes (someone who saved a life).

Great Places could include great views (pictures of scenic areas in our region), great attractions (things to do and visit), great architecture (ornate courthouses), great facilities (city-owned recreation centers or sports fields), great historic locations (spots along the Lewis and Clark trail), great scenic drives (perhaps along the Missouri River).

Great Ideas could include great innovations (advances in farming), great events (town celebrations), great promotions (ideas for community betterment), great inventions, great development (a new business park in a regional town), great community planning (Focus 2020 in Mitchell) and great charities.

Again, these are just examples of ideas. A great friend, for instance, doesn’t have to be limited to a friend who donated a kidney. It could be someone who helped a farmer harvest his crops during hard times, or who took in children while a mother or father went off to war.

Please, call or write and give us an idea of who we should be writing about this summer. Our telephone number is 996-5516 or 1-800-529-5516; for written nominations, send them to dailynews@mitchellrepublic.com or to The Daily Republic, Box 1288, Mitchell, S.D., 57301.

For e-mailed submissions, please include the word “Great” in the subject line.

Tags: korrie wenzel, columns, opinion