From the editor's desk: Time flies when you're avoiding sun

Dear readers,

Has it been a year already? From September to May, the calendar pages turned faster than I thought possible. At TNH, we've seen the campus' ups and downs and reported them to our best ability. We've dealt with some criticism throughout the year, but we feel that the paper has improved as a whole in 2008-09 thanks to our former chief, John Wayne Ferguson. I'd like to keep that momentum going, but now is the time to reflect on the year that was.

We wrote over 740 stories, laid out more than 1,100 pages and came out with 52 full issues. We logged thousands of hours in the newsroom and drank endless cups of coffee. We missed parties, afternoons in the sun and new episodes of the Office every Thursday. Through it all, we came out stronger as one of the best semiweekly college publications in the country (we finished sixth at the journalism conference in San Diego).

This year, we launched one of the most important endeavors for the future of TNH: online multimedia. So far, we've uploaded footage of fun Greek events, a student body presidential debate, UNH men's hockey games, and put together cool slideshows, including a behind-the-scenes look at your typical HoCo dinner. We still struggle to find great photographs and photographers, but we are slowly climbing the ladder with visual storytelling.

We also started to be more creative with front-page design, implementing graphical elements and maps to make each issue more appealing. In past years, we've relied more on photographs, which can be hard to find, but we've begun to find a way around it if we're fresh out of photos and the story presents an artistic opportunity.

Finally, before the year officially ends, we want to thank you. If you have read a story, perused our website or even stumbled onto our blog (tnhnewsroom.blogspot.com), you've helped us succeed. Our job is to report the news, but if you don't read it we become obsolete.

I hope we've met your expectations over the past year, but I hope that you'll also have the courage to call or write us when we don't. It keeps us honest.

Thank you, and as always, keep reading.

Cameron Kittle

Executive Editor