Sign up for the summer study abroad programs before February 1, 2012.

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You are looking at the very first edition of the ieiMedia e-newsletter, your regular update about our study abroad programs, resources for teaching and learning media and journalism, the activities of our students and faculty, and what's new on our family of websites.

For students of journalism, media, and creative writing, we've got an amazing set of overseas study opportunities in six countries this summer. That's Perpignan, France, pictured above, where we offer programs in multimedia and international reporting. For more about locations and curricula, see "Got Wanderlust?" below.

Before you dive into the rest of this newsletter, I want to share one bit of exciting news that we just received: Our student-produced Urbino 2011 website won a prestigious EPPY Award from the journal Editor and Publisher. The ieiMedia Blog has details.

And here's an important reminder: The application deadline for our upcoming summer programs is February 1, 2012. See our website for more information and an online application form.

Thanks for subscribing. We'll be sending you a new issue every month or two--and we'd love to hear your reactions and suggestions.

ieiMedia

Here are some quick highlights from the ieiMedia Blog, where our faculty of top university professors and award-winning professionals regularly share insights and advice on the teaching and the practice of journalism.

• Top 10 Principles of Good Video Storytelling: Avoid "Big Mac stories," hold conversations (don't conduct interviews), plus eight more recommendations for compelling video reports. Read more. 
• The Perfect Pitch: Practical advice for young reporters and journalism students on how to sell an editor or a professor on a story idea. Hint: Include a "whiff of the meat." Read more.
• Nut Grafs, the Lynchpins of Clear Writing: One of the most critical requirements of strong writing--and, sadly, one that students find the least glamorous--is a solid structure. And one of the crucial elements of a solid structure is the so-called nut graf. Read more. 

Visit the ieiMedia Blog for more tools and useful advice. You can also sign up to get new blog posts by e-mail.

Considered one of the world's most beautiful cities, Istanbul is crisscrossed with sumptuous palaces, mosques, and gardens where the sultans played. It's also an energetic modern city of Greek, Armenian, Russian, Arab, religious, and secular influences, where people from around the world still come to make their fortunes. For our students, it is a rich environment in which they will practice working as foreign correspondents, producing blogs, videos, a digital magazine, and a print-on-demand book. Learn more about the Istanbul program.

Beyond Istanbul, this summer we offer programs covering multimedia reporting, magazine journalism, travel writing, and creative writing in these equally stimulating locations:

• Armagh, Northern Ireland
• Perpignan, France
• Prague, Czech Republic
• Salamanca, Spain
• Urbino, Italy 

In addition to creating several ambitious multimedia projects online, students in our 2011 programs in Urbino, Italy, and Istanbul, Turkey, produced digital publications that can be printed out "on demand" in slick hard-copy form and shipped to readers anywhere in the world.

To view digital versions of these publications presented in "page-turning" apps or to order physical copies, follow these links to our website:

• Urbino Now 2011 (magazine)
• Faces of Istanbul 2011 (book)

IeiMedia, a pioneer in journalism education, has been taking students abroad since 2002. It was founded by Andrew Ciofalo, now a professor emeritus at Loyola University Maryland.

Our projects aim to educate students in various media disciplines while at the same time inspiring them to explore a foreign culture. For each project, students produce a publication--a multimedia website, print magazine or book--about the community where they live and learn. Nearly 400 students have participated in these programs.