Keri Welham
SENIOR . Specialist writer
What has 15 years of predominantly-daily, predominantly-print journalism bred in me?
Speed.
Clients like the fact I can research a topic, make sense of information, interview key staff to ensure a document echoes their voice and vision, and translate complex ideas and concepts. And I can do it with accuracy, flair, a screaming deadline on my heels, and sense of humour intact and operational.
I’ve won a few national journalism awards, including New Zealand Feature Writer of the Year, and had stories published everywhere from US daily newspapers to BBC Online to front page of a Dutch-language agricultural magazine. I’ve reported from Sudan, Sri Lanka, Fiji and China, and worked extensively in Australia in newspapers, magazines and government.
I keep my hand in the mass media with regular gigs as an in-house journalism tutor for Fairfax Media and one day a week in my old job as Special Writer with The Dominion Post. The rest of the week, I’m a writer-for-hire; conceptualising websites, investigating industry trends, and writing case studies, advertising copy, brochures, plans and company and staff profiles.
A year into my contracting career, I’ve joined The Pond in the hope it’ll give me exposure to a new range of opportunities. I’m keen to expand my repertoire and see where these speed-communication skills might take me next.
Finance, Science and Research – an accessible yet professional interpretation of your research or ideas.
Government – clean, clear copy for in-house publications and websites.
Web – fresh copy for an existing website, or a whole new concept of what needs to be said, and how.
Journalistic style – any project that requires research, interviewing, fact-checking and delivery of sharp, clean copy.
I write as I speak. I use words that are simple, yet thoughtfully selected and delicately arranged. I like my words to be vibrant, charming and professional.
My style is flexible, adaptable, malleable. I can produce copy which is stark, or elegant, or comical, or ambient. Or I can deliver a tone that is unashamedly straight up and down.
I can write a fast-paced staccato bulletin, or a languid tale that weaves vital information with telling observation and sweeps the reader up in the drama, the intrigue and all those luscious words.
Viclink (web and print)
I’ve recently been working with Victoria Link Ltd, the organisation that takes the brilliant research coming out of Victoria University and turns it into a commercial reality. I interviewed key staff and made sense of the information, conceptualised a plan for the web content and wrote all the words to fill the various pages. I then wrote a company profile and drop sheets on each of the IP opportunities Viclink had in development. The tone was articulate, collegial and upbeat.
Unlimited (print)
I am a regular contributor to leading business magazine Unlimited. I travelled to India early in 2009 on a scholarship to document the emerging economic power of the world’s second most-populous nation and wrote a feature for Unlimited on the anticipated impacts of a free trade negotiation with India. Unlimited demands a punchy, buoyant and confident style.
Sir Ed (print)
I wrote his front-page lead for the Weekend Dominion Post in just over two hours, pulling together information pouring in from around the world and scouring Sir Ed’s autobiography for detail.
The tone was intimate, and more lingering than the fast-paced language of a standard front-page lead. This approach recognised that readers could already have heard the news, and would then be turning to their newspaper for a poignant round-up of Sir Ed’s accomplishments and the facts at hand.