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Encyclopedia WinterCampica - Suggest Change
Current Entry: Winter Camp News
The first Winter Camp newspaper was the Peas Pipe, published at Winter Camp IX. Beginning at Winter Camp X, the name Winter Camp News has been adopted. The News published three issues at camp its first year, one in 1987 as the Winter Camp underground newspaper war raged, and three at Winter Camps XII and XIII. The tradition of a daily camp paper peaked at Winter Camp XIV when six issues, including a precamp paper, were released. Improved structure was implemented on the news front for Winter Camp XII, when Tom Ray and Jeff Rand took control of the paper and began to infuse it with more structure. Three columnists were hired: Mark Bollman--> for "Winter Camp Trivia"; Ron Donohue for "Ask The Beast", an advice column; and Doug Wilson for "Gadget of the Day", which later evolved into "Gadget Googolplex". A "Scout of the Day" was selected for each issue. The Winter Camp XIII News continued these traditions, and additionally pre-assigned topics for articles to individual participants. The graphics of the Winter Camp XIV News improved by a significant amount, finally surpassing the illustration standard set by the Peas Pipe. A masthead was officially adopted which continues to grace the paper to this day.
However, the press of activity at Winter Camp took its toll on the News. Citing time pressures, publisher Jeff Rand suspended the presses during Winter Camp XV and chose instead to bring out a single precamp edition and an expanded post-camp paper. The second issue broke further new ground and was hailed as a significant improvement over the old daily news. This pattern was adopted at future Winter Camps and seemed to be on its way to more enduring status until Winter Camp XX. The Winter Camp Future Society Press team in the Stock Market game took their identity literally and published a newspaper on Day Three. At Winter Camp XXVI and XXVII, the News, under the editorship of Ricky Naida, successfully relaunched as a daily paper, publishing 5 issues at camp. Three issues were published at Winter Camps XXVIII and XXIX, and five at Winter Camps XXX-XXXI and XXXIII-XXXVII. The bugout resulting from the power failure at Winter Camp XXXII, and time pressure combined with a news drought at Winter Camp XXXVIII, led to only four issues appearing those years. 4-5 issues have been published every year since.