Send us your news for News and Notes!

News and Notes from the NIDILRR Community and Beyond has become an essential promotional tool for the NIDILRR Community. It reaches more than 4,800 readers every week. The only way we can put together such an excellent resource is with the help of the grantees. Each week, we scour grantee websites, alerts, and social media channels, but we also rely on the community to send us new material. Here are some common questions we hear:

What kind of news items are you looking for?

News and Notes includes several types of news bites from grantees: resource highlights, recruiting announcements, events, award and special achievements, and media mentions. We also include special notices from NIDILRR as well as an item from outside the NIDILRR community.

• Resource Highlights: Resources are publications, videos, databases, and other tools that our readers can use right away, usually at no cost. These have included factsheets and newsletters, archived webcasts, screening tools, guides, manuals, and more.
• Recruiting Announcements: If you are conducting a survey, study, focus group, or trial and need participants, we can help! We've included everything from national surveys to local lab trials.
• Events: Conferences, webcasts, classes, consumer events, all fit under this category. 
• News: Did your director receive an award or recognition? Did one of your fellows go on to a prestigious appointment? Were you interviewed by an industry magazine or local news show? All of these fall under the NEWS category. 

When should we submit items for News and Notes?

News and Notes goes into editorial review on Monday at 3pm (unless we have a Monday holiday). We try to have every slot filled by Monday morning, but we can make room up until we close the issue at 3.

What should we send to you? Is there a specific format?

The best way to submit items to be included in News and Notes is to send a brief description to Jess Chaiken, our editor, at jchaiken@heitechservices.com. The most important information we need is:

• What project the item is associated with (title or grant number)
• A sentence or two describing it
• A link where we can refer readers for more information
• For events, we need to know date and start time, plus any registration requirements
• For recruiting items, we need to know any qualifiers (age, disability type, etc.), and any incentives.

The majority of articles will look something like this news item from a recent issue:

Employment After Burn Injury Wins Telly Award
Employment After Burn Injury, a video developed by the NIDILRR-funded Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center, in collaboration with the Northwest Regional Burn Model System Center, received a Bronze Telly Award in the category of Internet/Online Video for Education (PDF). The "Hot Topic" video depicts a burn survivor's transition back to work after sustaining a severe burn injury, along with guidance from model systems researchers on making a successful transition to the workplace. A previous hot topic video, Relationships After Traumatic Brain Injury, won a Telly Award in 2013.

Can we submit an item more than once?

We can certainly consider running an item more than once. This is especially true of recruiting items, as they don't come up as often as events, news, or resources. Just let us know if we can run it again in the future.

What items do you NOT include in News and Notes?

Generally speaking, we have not included new grant announcements, staff changes, commercial endorsements, or items which might be construed as lobbying. We also try to include items that would be of interest to a wide audience, so we may not include highly selective or scholarly items. We have also declined to include items that are limited only to NIDILRR grantees, such as events open only to staff of NIDILRR-funded projects.

Can you send me an update after my news item goes out?

Certainly! We track opens, clicks, and shares throughout the day. We can send you statistics on how many readers may have clicked on or shared any news items you've submitted.

I am not with a NIDILRR grant. May I submit an item for consideration?

Yes! One section of News and Notes is set aside for items from "Elsewhere in the Community." Send a brief description and a link to our editor. Please note the criteria mentioned above. We try to make the Elsewhere item as generally inclusive as possible. Inclusion is limited to items published or presented directly by government agencies and offices.

I have a few more questions. Who can I contact?

Jess Chaiken, our managing editor, is available Monday through Friday during business hours. You can reach her via email at jchaiken@heitechservices.com, by phone at 800/346-2742 x1114, or using the chat button located in the left margin.