Welcome to the Howler

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Welcome to the headquarters of The Howler, HOL’s very own newspaper!

The paper comes out regularly throughout the year and features writing and artwork created by our talented members. All HOLers (including students and staff) are more than welcome to submit something to the latest issue. You’ll earn house points for your efforts too.

Sections
The Howler has lots of different sections to submit to. Each section has its own Guidelines thread in our Guidelines section, so make sure you give those a read before working on your submission.

News from the Wizarding World: Fictional articles about things going on in the Wizarding World - the sort of thing you might find in a real magical newspaper like The Daily Prophet.
Informative Articles: Factual articles about anything and everything. Science, nature, art, history, sport and just about anything else you want to tell people about.
Opinions and Reviews: This is a space for opinions, reviews and more personal pieces. This is where you can write about your own experiences or thoughts on a topic.
Columns: Regular pieces from our columnists on their chosen theme. Got an idea for a column? Apply to be a columnist!
Creative Showcase: The chance to show off your creative writing or artwork inspired by the current theme. You can also respond to that issue's creative prompt!
Illustrations: Graphics that accompany an article you’re submitting.
Puzzles: Puzzles submitted by members for everyone to have a go at.
Ads: Ads for HOL events/areas, as well as fictional ads for wizarding products.

There’s also the HOL news section which will feature updates from the editors and house news.

Points and Requirements
You can earn up to 60 points per issue. For more info on the house points you can earn, required wordcounts and the number of each type of submission you’re allowed to make, head over to our Points Info Thread.

Ideas and Approvals
If the paper is open for submissions, you’ll find a thread in this forum which tells you what the current theme is. This is where you post your ideas for articles, puzzles, graphics etc for the editors to approve. You don't need to get ideas for the Creative Showcase approved - you can just send your submissions in once they're done.
If you know what you’d like to write or create, reply to the thread and one of the editors will get back to you to let you know if it’s approved. There will also be a list of everything that has already been approved for that issue so you can check that somebody else hasn’t already signed up to do something similar.
If you know you want to submit something to the paper but are a bit stuck, try the Idea Bank. Here you’ll find suggestions for articles and ads that you can use. You’ll still need to get an idea bank idea approved though, so we know who’s doing what!
Note: Creative Showcase submissions need to follow the theme but articles don't (though it's great if they do, of course).

Submitting
Once your idea is approved, you can get working on it. When you’re done, you can use the submission form to send it in. Remember to keep an eye on the deadline!
The editors will be polishing all the pieces that we receive to make sure there aren’t any spelling or grammatical mistakes. If we spot any larger issues with your submission, we’ll chat to you before making any bigger changes.

The Editors
The Howler currently has 3 editors:
Prof. Sky Alton (editor in chief)
Aurelia West (Assistant Editor)
Maxim Trevelyan (Assistant Editor)
If you have any questions or need advice on where an idea would fit best, feel free to use the questions thread or reach out to one of us via PM. We’ll aim to get back to you as soon as we possibly can but please be patient.

[Aurelia West]

BUMP: As a reminder, we have changed some of the guidelines from last school year.

1. We are no longer using assigned house contributors, but instead reaching out to a representative from each house to gather any upcoming news.
2. We have turned our former Creative Contest into an overall creative submission. You can submit up to two times in response to the given prompt for up to 20 points.
3. We have raised the limit on graphics! Now up to 30 points can be earned via graphic submissions. This includes illustrations, advertisements, and puzzles. You are also now able to submit up to two (2) puzzles, however we still ask for no duplicates and may turn down a puzzle if we have already accepted enough.

[Prof. Sky Alton]

A friendly reminder that you need to get most ideas approved before submitting.

We've had quite a few submissions that haven't been approved sent into the form. While we're glad lots of people want to contribute to the paper, I'm afraid we can't publish these unless they've been given the green light by an editor. If you've submitted something without approval, you still have time to run the idea by us before the upcoming deadline.

As a quick recap, only art and creative writing can be submitted without approval. Articles, puzzles and ads all need to be posted in the thread for that particular issue to be given the go-ahead.

Thank you all!

[Prof. Maxim Trevelyan]

It is so wonderful to already see submissions flowing in for the first issue of this term!

Another friendly reminder. As per The HOwLer guidelines when you are submitting a puzzle, you must provide a solution to it as well!

Happy writing and arting!

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Just a heads up that we’re making two changes to our rules from this issue forward.
1. To ensure what we’re publishing is as accurate as we can make it, we’re asking everyone to submit sources along with their articles from now on. All informative articles and factual columns must have sources included or we won’t be able to publish them. The only exception are articles/columns that are purely based on your opinion or that are mostly creative (like Wizarding World news).

2. A lot of people have been forgetting about our requirement to provide puzzle solutions. If you submit a puzzle and don’t also submit a solution along with it, 2 house points will be deducted from the 5 you would usually earn. The only exception to this is jigsaw puzzles.
Thank you all!