As an aspiring sports journalist, Oregon Daily Emerald sports editor Lucas Clark is used to seeing his name in newsprint, but as only a University of Oregon junior, he never imagined his work would be featured in a book about the Duck football team.
“The things I’ve gotten to do and be a part of due to the success of the football program are simply incredible,” Clark said.
In honor of the Oregon football team’s historic season, the Oregon Daily Emerald, the student newspaper at the University of Oregon, is publishing a commemorative book that will be released after the BCS National Championship Game in January. University President Richard Lariviere will write the book’s foreword.
It will be the first student newspaper-produced hard-bound commemorative book. Fans can also submit their own photos to be considered in the book.
Emerald publisher Mike Thoele, a former Eugene Register-Guard editor and reporter, Oregon author and long-time journalism school instructor, said the student content gives valuable perspective to the season.
“Readers are going to be treated to the viewpoint of student journalists covering their contemporaries,” Thoele said. “No other set of writers and photographers is so uniquely positioned to depict the campus impact of a historic season.”
The book, titled “Duck Season: Oregon’s improbable flight to the national title game,” will be off the press two weeks after the title game. It will include entirely student-produced Daily Emerald football game coverage, feature stories and photographs. Every game of the season will receive its own chapter, including the BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 10 in Glendale, Ariz.
Thoele said having students directly involved with producing the book expands the Daily Emerald’s education beyond practical journalism experience in print, online and multimedia.
“Through the serendipity of this magical football year, we have students dealing with a publishing firm of national stature, meeting pressure-cooker deadlines and putting a finished book on store shelves within days of the championship game,” Thoele said.
For student journalists at the Daily Emerald, covering one of the top college football teams in the country will continue to be a learning experience, particularly with a trip to Glendale in the near future and the chance to work alongside national media to cover college football’s biggest competition.
Sports reporters, photographers, editors and others from the Daily Emerald newsroom are learning first-hand what it takes to produce and publish a major book. Many of the student staff members are studying in the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication.
Clark said the quality of both the writing and photography in this student-produced book should get it noticed.
“We are all still growing as writers, and I believe that will be a unique aspect as readers work their way through this book,” Clark said.
For additional information on the project and on the availability of the book, visit http://ducksbook.com.