Dear Reader | Good sports, bad sports; good deeds, good news

News flash: In our quest to adapt our news-gathering and news-sharing culture to the rapid-fire changes in technology, we are going to stumble. One of the good things about the new culture is that we can get back on our feet and revise things if necessary.

At the same time, we must keep our eyes, and our priorities, aimed toward the future and the best ways to use our many tech tools to ensure that our readers see us as the place to come to be connected to credible news coverage of their communities.

But that sounds pretty boring, doesn’t it? Important, but boring. As part of the culture change, we must change the way we think of “coverage,” or at least the way we present it. In most cases, it should not be the traditional 10-, 20-, even 90-inch story you have come to expect (and ignore) in the print edition.

You’ve seen some of the things we’ve begun to do in print to adapt to this approach, and some of you even like them. Thanks to those who have shared their views, especially those who have been specific in their descriptions of what they don’t like. Over the next several weeks, we will be embarking on a much more dramatic change to the way the print version looks, and we will be calling on you for reactions.

Box scores, and sports

For those baseball fans who have called and written about our decision to drop daily box scores because of deadlines that make it impossible for them to be timely, I understand your reactions. I hope you noticed that on Sunday we ran a round up of statistics for team and player batting and pitching for the week.

As I have told many of you who have called and emailed, changes to our sports section are ongoing as we transition from being where you turn to know who won or lost in this era of texts and push notifications and sport apps to being the place where you turn to know why a team won or lost. Our goal is to provide deeper contextual coverage for key sports, similar to the authoritative coverage you already get from golf writer Alan Blondin and CCU reporter Ryan Young.

Serving scholars

Newspapers have traditionally been loathe to toot their own horns, feeling that to do so was to give themselves more credit than other organizations that contribute to their communities.

But I am proud of what The Sun News Educational Foundation has provided for area college-bound scholars since 1984. And it is once again time for students to submit their applications for a scholarship.

Each year the foundation awards three $1,000 one-year scholarships and one Mark and Nancy Garner Leadership scholarship, which pays $1,500 each year for four years.

Students from high schools in Horry, Georgetown and southern Brunswick are eligible. Winners are selected on the basis of motivation, potential for academic achievement, leadership and involvement in community and civic activities.

Information about the scholarships has been distributed to guidance counselors at all area high schools for distribution to students. They are also available in our lobby, 914 Frontage Road East, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday; at www.Myrtlebeachonline.com, or by contacting Peggy Studds, 626-0250, pstudds@thesunnews.com.

Don’t delay. The deadline is May 29.

This story was originally published May 11, 2015 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Dear Reader | Good sports, bad sports; good deeds, good news."