Hey everyone! My name is Chloe O’Keeffe and I am the current editor of An Focal UL.
We’ve had a pretty rough beginning to the semester and year ahead with the An Focal website, but the website is thankfully up and running again (as you can see!) and I’m very excited to be working with some amazing writers over the next few months!
I’ve been writing for An Focal since I started in First Year here at UL, so it’s a massive win for me to be in the editor role this year where I’ll be studying parallel in the Masters in Journalism programme.
Life is pretty crazy and different at the moment but we’ve been adapting to the new normal and I was delighted to have a very successful zoom contributors meeting last week. I thought my zoom meetings could possibly be over, but it looks like they’re here to stay. For now anyway. Unfortunately, there will be no physical newspapers this year, but again we’ve adapted to this lack of newspaper and will be creating a PDF newspaper to take the place of our bi-semesterly newspaper.
Of course, now more than ever anfocal.ie will be as busy as ever, so expect to see new articles daily from news stories to fashion and all things in between. For as long as I can remember An Focal’s motto has been that it is YOUR newspaper, and this year is no different. An Focal is a place for everyone, and we welcome pitches of all types. An Focal is the perfect opportunity for you to get your creative juices going, so don’t hesitate in reaching out if you have a story idea!
If you, or someone you know might be interested in contributing to An Focal contact me at anfocal@ul.ie or join our contributors group on Facebook, An Focal Contributor’s 2020/21.
Thanks!
Chloe O’Keeffe,
Editor in Chief, An Focal UL
Molly Cantwell 
Olivia O'Dwyer 
Joe Costigan