VAJTA

VA Byline « VA Byline On Style

"Adviser" is the AP accepted spelling. Although many prefer the look: of "advisor," we will use the AP spelling.
American Society of Magazine Editors, ASME
American Society of Newspaper Editors, ASNE
Apostrophe — Do not use an apostrophe with such terms as boys basketball team, girls softball team. In these terms "boys" and "girls" are descriptive not possessive. This is in keeping with VHSL usage.
Asian American Journalists Association, AAJA
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, AEJMC

Capitalize historic documents, historic doctrines, enacted laws and ratified constitutional amendments: First Amendment, Magna Carta, Bill of Rights
Columbia Scholastic Press Association, CSPA
Comma — when a series occurs in a sentence, separate items with a comma, but do not put a comma before the conjunction. The comma is placed before "and" only to avoid confusion as in this sentence: I had prune juice, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and ham and eggs for breakfast.
Communication: Journalism Education Today, C:JET

Em dash — The em dash is used to denote an abrupt change in thought in a sentence or to make an emphatic pause. While you may place a space before and after the dash, VA Byline will not for space consideration. On a Macintosh, an em dash is created by using an option-shift-hyphen combination.
End punctuation — Space only once after end punctuation. Do not hit the key twice as you did on a typewriter keyboard.

His/her. Use his when an indefinite antecedent may be male or female. When possible, revise the sentence to use the plural.

Less, fewer. Use fewer when referring to the number of individuals or items, less when referring to the bulk or quantity. Such as, We had fewer than 100 registered for the workshop. Use less with a smaller quantity (less than a pound of candy bars), fewer with a smaller number of people (fewer than 20 advisers in broadcast classes). When quantity is expressed as a number, use less: The VAJTA director had less than $150 in cash to pay our lunch bill.

Months are capitalized in all uses. When using with a specific date, only abbreviate these months: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. When a phrase lists only a month and a year, do not separate the year with commas. Examples: September 2001 will be remembered. Sept. 11 will stand with Dec. 7, 1941, and Nov. 22, 1963, as unforgettable.

Postal Service abbreviations have a reason to exist — on an envelope and when giving a mailing address. Do not substitute the acceptable, traditional and correct Associated Press-style state abbreviations with the postal abbreviations for states. For example, abbreviations should be: Md., Va., Kan., Calif. and Ariz. Do not abbreviate Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio or Utah.

Trademarks are either words, phrases, symbols or designs, or a combination, which identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods or services of one company for that of another. Names of trademarked products should be capitalized: Ben & Jerry's ice cream, McDonald's restaurants, Post-it notes. Not sure? Go to the online International Trademark Association (INTA) Trademark Checklist
T-shirt (always with a capital T and hyphen) or tee shirt (two words)