Submission Guidelines

This Week @ York is a weekly newsletter sponsored by the Vice-Provost Students that is sent to all active York University students through the Microsoft Dynamics CRM system. It lists important dates, key events and other important goings-on in the York community for that week. The newsletter is formatted as a “Top 10”-style list, with the order of items determined by the editor. Each newsletter is then archived on thisweek.students.yorku.ca so that students may return to view previous weeks or in some cases, look at ongoing initiatives that may have been featured in a previous edition.

AUDIENCE

The newsletter is sent to all current students that are in the CRM system for the current term.

DISTRIBUTION SCHEDULE

This Week @ York is distributed every Tuesday morning (to accommodate holidays, it is distributed on Wednesday mornings).

SUBMISSION PROTOCOLS AND DEADLINES

All submissions must be sent to thisweek@yorku.ca by Thursday at noon preceding the Tuesday publication date. Submissions received after this time may be added to thisweek.students.yorku.ca but will not be featured in the email newsletter. If the submission is for a campaign or another initiative that lasts more than one week, the content may be featured in more than one edition of This Week @ York. The content will be featured for a maximum of four consecutive weeks.

If there are too many submissions for one week, the editor will choose what is included in the newsletter. This decision is based upon the number of submissions, the number of submissions per topic, the theme of the newsletter (if there is a special edition) and other factors.

There is no guarantee that your submission will be published.

Content is included when space is available. All content is placed randomly throughout our newsletters, unless a specific placement in a topic section is requested. Requests for placement in the top section may be accommodated given space and University priority.

THEMES & SUBJECT MATTER

Content to be included in This Week @ York must be relevant to a large portion of current students, timely as of the date of publication and focused on events, activities and important dates relevant to the student academic cycle.

Topical themes include:

  • Connecting, including how to connect (e.g. clubs, associations, extracurriculars) and why to connect (benefits);
  • Careers, Experiential Education;
  • Learning Skills/Academic Supports (libraries, writing centres, learning commons);
  • Health & Wellness, including mental health, sport (varsity, recreation, intramural) cannabis/smoking/drinking, sex ed, getting active (e.g. walking, biking);
  • Finances;
  • Important Dates (related to academic calendar, student record, financial aid and University closures);
  • International including exchanges, summer abroad (e.g. Las Nubes), global cafes, UHIP, scholarship deadlines and W/S eligibility;
  • Graduate student news including preparing for grad school targeting third- and fourth-year students;
  • York Pride/reputation, including student accomplishments, York U accomplishments, what we do well and alumni stories; and
  • Student support (accessibility, counselling, student conduct, sexual violence response, human rights, community education, etc.)

Subject matter includes:

  • Arts Events (Art Exhibits, Concerts, Film Screenings, Talent Shows, Theatre Productions, etc.);
  • Athletics and Recreation Events;
  • Important Dates and Deadlines relating to students’ academic and financial activities;
  • Information Sessions relating to students’ academic and financial activities as well as campus life;
  • Social Media Campaigns;
  • Institutional surveys engaging student participation; and
  • Speakers, Guests, Symposiums, Conferences, workshops, webinars open to students.

This Week @ York does not accept submissions for:

  • College or Faculty-specific events unless they are open to all students;
  • Events not affiliated with York University;
  • Soliciting participation in university-related assignments, coursework or research projects; (personal course projects, studies, surveys or clinical trials); or
  • Commercial projects or initiatives for monetary gain (selling items or services).

LANGUAGE SUPPORTED

Submissions in French are welcome, but you must also provide an English translation.

TONE AND VOICE

This Week @ York submissions are non-promotional, adopting a “tell not sell” tone. They should be informative, educational, entertaining, timely and relevant.

SUBMISSION REQUEST FORMAT

All submissions must include the following event information:

  • Date;
  • Time;
  • Location; and
  • URL/hyperlink to more information.

In the case of a survey with no specified end date, the survey will be featured once in the main body of the newsletter and repeated in the “Worth Repeating” section of the newsletter up to four times. Submissions without a link will not be accepted.

If linking to a Zoom link, a registration or landing page must be created to ensure privacy and information security. Please refer to the Information Security page for recommendations on how to set up a secure Zoom meeting.

There is a maximum of ten items per newsletter excluding the “Worth Repeating” section for ongoing items), though some items may be “grouped” if they fall under the same bucket (see the list of topics).

Submissions for events that are not occurring during the publication week may be accepted if:

  • It is an event or campaign that is ongoing from a previous week and was not in This Week @ York for the initial week;
  • The event is early on the following Monday or Tuesday; or
  • There are no other submissions for dates during the specified week.

Length:

This Week @ York submissions must be under 75 words in total. Once submitted, this content may be edited by This Week @ York staff to suit the editorial style of the newsletter.

WORTH REPEATING

If you would like to have a submission repeated in This Week @ York, there is a “Worth Repeating” section of the e-newsletter that can feature the submission for up to four weeks after original publication. This four-week period may be extended in certain circumstances: at the request of senior University leadership or if it impacts student safety. There may be other reasons for extended publication that are up to the discretion of the editor.

SPECIAL EDITIONS

There may be certain weeks where the newsletter focuses on a certain group of services or events offered that week. For example, a special Mental Health edition was released to students during the second-last week of classes in the 2018-2019 Winter Term that prioritized Mental Health support services, learning skills services and exam de-stressors. Submissions may be excluded from the newsletter in a special edition if they do not fall under the theme to which that newsletter is devoted.

FEEDBACK

We want to hear from you! We welcome all feedback about the This Week @ York newsletter and the website. Let us know how we can improve by emailing thisweek@yorku.ca.