Press Association Training is running an intensive subbing and layout masterclass in April. The week- long certificated course by Peter Sands, who teaches sub-editing for the Daily Mail, The Sun, The Daily Telegraph and most regional newspaper groups, will take delegates through the full range of subbing skills.

The programme (below) is a mix of practical and theory with course members being individually guided and assessed on their work. After each session they will carry out practical exercises in tight-editing, copytasting, rewriting, headline writing, picture selection and cropping, laying out a news page and a spread and laying out a features/or sports page. They will also receive tuition if needed in QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign and Photoshop.

By the end of the week course members should be able to produce clean newspaper pages to a high standard.

The course is being held at the splendid Bishop's Manor in Howden, East Yorkshire, from April 23 to 27. The cost of the course is £950 (exc VAT) per person. Accommodation ranging from £45 to £85 per night is available and can be arranged on your behalf.

We are running this course at the request of a number of newspapers and so some places are already taken. Places will be restricted, so if you would like to make a booking please do not hesitate to call or email me as soon as possible.

For more details, contact Lorna Chaproniere, Course administrator, on 01424 858123 or email training@pa-training.co.uk

Subbing and layout masterclass details:

Intro
- the role of the sub-editor
- essential subbing skills

Text-editing
- the use of language, text editing, punctuation, grammar, story structure, intros, when to rewrite, tight-editing
- subbing perils: the common pitfalls, errors, how to double-check, the art of proof-reading, how to be a pedant
- practical exercises and assessment in editing
- news-sense, latest angles, merging stories from different sources
- content that sells

Headlines
- the purpose of the headline
- the 30 rules that govern headline writing
- picture-building with words
- when and how to use straplines, sub-decks and pullquotes
- puns – the do’s and don’ts
- tips on writing publishable headlines
- assessment of different headline approaches
- practical headline exercises

Pictures and captions
- choosing the right picture
- effective cropping
- cutouts and picture manipulation
- pictures on a page
- caption writing
- headlining pictures

Design and layout
- building pages around the words
- a design overview including a run through the designer’s checklist
- ensuring the best content gets the best projection
- the 25 rules that govern good layout
- the ingredients of the page examined in depth
- the mechanics of layout
- the way people read
- space: white space and use of colour
- typography – the do’s and don’ts

Other
- bill writing
- ethics
- a legal update