6 reasons to submit your research to the Community Journalism Interest Group. You won't believe No. 5!

I thought I'd have a bit of fun with tthis post encouraging everyone to consider submitting to our interest group for the 2015 AEJMC conference. I hope it got your attention. I also think an Unworthy-style listicle fits our goals as an interest group because anyone using conversational headlines is relying on the principles of community to bring people together, and that's what COMJIG is all about.
Remember the deadline for papers is Wednesday, April 1 at 11:59 p.m. Central time. All papers are submitted through the submission site. Check out the AEJMC Uniform Paper Call to see what individual division/interest groups are looking for (by clicking on the link above and scrolling to the bottom of the page), but we hope that you consider COMJIG.
Without further ado, here are six reasons to consider COMJIG.

1. Feedback: As research chair last year, I was able to secure three reviews for almost every paper pretty easily. I know this year we've already got a good stable of reviewers lined up so you can expect reviews you can use.
2. Attention: As a small division, we know most of the people who submit papers, and if we don't know you, we will. We might even ask you to join the board as we did with our top student author last year. Don't be intimidated by that, however, because we're a friendly group of scholars interested in our members' success. I can attest to the feedback group members gave me as I applied for tenure this year.
3. Acceptance: We all want our papers accepted. To be honest, all divisions and interest groups strive for that magic 50 % number. But I can tell you, again from my experience last year, that we had a bit of leeway in going over that number a bit to make sure that all the highly reviewed papers we received got presented. It made my job easier knowing I didn't have to turn down a really good paper just to hit an arbitrary number.
4. Publication: Each of our top student and faculty papers are considered for our affiliated journal, Community Journalism. The online, open access journal just published its third edition. Check it out!
5. Definition: Don't think anymore that community journalism is just about small newspapers. In fact, we have made a conscious effort the last two years to educate AEJMC members that we are looking for any research that explores the definition, creation and cultivation of community through news, whether that community is organized geographically or by a topic of interest, whether it meets face to face or entirely online. This concept is something that our members have decided to become experts in. In line with No. 2 above, we want to help you expand this definition so everyone -- researchers, professionals, journalists -- can understand how to strengthen and build communities through factual, fair, and balanced information.
6. Community: I know it seems redundant, but COMJIG is more than a bunch of scholars just researching the same topic. We are trying to live up to our name by building and sustaining a group of scholars with something important to share. Even if you don't submit to COMJIG this year, we'd love to see you at our business meeting Saturday, Aug. 8 at 7 p.m.

Thanks for reading! You can contact our research chair David Schriendl with any questions about submitting a paper or our chair Dianne Garyantes or me, Hans Meyer, vice chair, with any questions about the Community Journalism Interest Group.