About

Voices of South is the official magazine of South Gwinnett High School written and published by journalism students in Snellville, GA. Voices of South aim to report accurately and be transparent in collecting and presenting news to meet and exceed best practices in the journalism industry. The goal is to inform the South Gwinnett community, including students, teachers, administrators, and parents of the significant events and issues pertaining to the school.

Voices of South provides a full opportunity for all groups to inquire, question, and exchange ideas and serves every member of the SGHS community, regardless of an individual’s race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, gender, ability, or socioeconomic identity.

Our Policies

Editorial Policy

The South Gwinnett High School Voices of South magazine is a student publication whose content is chosen and whose production is facilitated by students. The student editor-in-chief, managing editor, section editors, and art directors oversee the work of their peers on this publication. The student editorial board makes final decisions on all content of the magazine and website.

The following editorial policy is adapted for the South Gwinnett High School Voices of South from a template provided by the Journalism Education Association, an independent national scholastic journalism organization that promotes and supports student press.

Mission, Law, and Journalistic Principles

South Gwinnett High School Voices of South publication is a forum for student journalists to inform and educate their readers as well as for the discussion of issues of concern to their primary audience—other students. This publication is not reviewed or restrained by school officials prior to publication or distribution. Student journalists of Voices of South publications are aware of their legal obligation to avoid obscenity, libel, slander or content that “so incites pupils as to create a clear and present danger of the commission of unlawful acts on school premises or the violation of lawful school regulations, or the substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the school.”

The overall purpose, role and goal of Voice of South publications is to:

1. Inform, challenge, and entertain readers and viewers with accurate reports and thoughtful perspectives, where information has been impartially gathered and thoroughly verified;

2. Serve as an educational laboratory experience for those on staff;

3. Be accurate, fair, and impartial in its coverage of issues that affect the school community;

4. Cover relevant topics, even in cases of possible controversy;

5. Cover the total school population as effectively and accurately as possible;

6. Report all issues in a legal, objective, accurate and ethical manner, in accordance with the code of ethics developed by the Society for Professional Journalists which includes guidelines for accuracy, responsibility, integrity, conflict of interest, impartiality, fair play, freedom of the press, independence, sensationalism, personal privacy, obstruction of justice, credibility and advertising.

Guest Writer Policies

Baseline requirements for guest submissions

We encourage guest writers as means of reader participation! The baseline requirement for being a guest writer on Voices of South are that you are a current South Gwinnett High School student, have a subject which is relevant to the South Gwinnett High School community, and comply with our editing process. Students who wish to write on the issue must send their story idea outline to the journalism adviser, Ms. Stuart, at [email protected] and the editor-in-chief will review the submission. Voices of South reserves the right to not publish articles or works deemed harmful, slanderous, empty, careless, or does not fit the scope of the issue.

Editing process

Guest writers who have been invited to publish their work in Voices of South’s publication must meet in E-401 on Thursday during advisement period. They student will meet with staff members and determine the direction of the story angle. All submissions are subject to editing for clarity and length. We will not alter the meaning of any submissions, but we reserve the right to edit for clarity and length, as well as to correct spelling, grammar and punctuation when necessary.

Print and Online publication

Voices of South has two forms of publication through print and online. Guest writers and staff writers alike may see their work published online, but omitted from the print version. Due to page count restrictions, the editor-in-chief and Voices of South reserves the right to determine the format in which articles and works will be published.

Please review the Become a Contributor page for more information on becoming a guest writer.

Byline policy

All articles, graphics, photos, art, columns, reviews and other creative material, with exception of staff editorials, mug shots and cut-outs, will be bylined with the producer’s name. When more than one person has contributed creatively to a piece of work, everyone who contributed to the work will be bylined as a producer.