Topside magazine is the official voice of the 5th Northern District and is of and by our membership.  In its pages you will experience Auxiliary life as it occurs in every corner of our District., with Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) versions posted on this site as they become available.

A Successful District Magazine is not limited to our Publications Staff Officers. This "Successful District Magazine" is built from the articles and photographs submitted by the members of Fifth Northern. Members at every level are achieving great things and are engaged in numerous wonderful projects that bring credit to District Fifth-Northern. Articles and photographs in TOPSIDE should tell their stories and applaud their efforts.

Guidelines for submission to TOPSIDE are as follows:

1. KEEP IT SIMPLE: Sometimes all that is needed to tell a story is a photograph with a concise caption.

Articles and stories of any length up to approximately 700 words are welcome. TOPSIDE has no set minimum number of words.

2. Every article or photo caption should answer the basic questions: Who is this about? What is this story about, or what is pictured in the photograph? Where and When did the story take place?  Why is the action being done? and How is this performed? As an all-volunteer organization, nearly every thing we do can be noteworthy. Always provide the name of the photographer as well as the author’s name, or byline.

3. Most people can improve their photos by just getting closer. Take pictures from NO MORE than 10-12 feet away from your subject. Photographs must be high resolution images. Set your camera for the highest resolution possible. Check your camera’s documentation on how to do this.

4. When writing an article for submission never use all capital letters unless you are typing an acronym, and always spell out the complete name the first time followed by the abbreviation or acronym in parenthesis after it. Thereafter, the acronym may be used. 

5. All submissions to TOPSIDE should be forwarded to your respective regional ADSO's.

All of this information and more can be found on the Public Affairs website. I encourage every Publications Officer to take advantage of this site. You will find any number of resources: from Power Point presentations to written guides on numerous topics; from how to write an effective news or feature story to how to take high resolution photographs and, of course, the Publications Manual. If you have not visited this site recently then you might be amazed at the vast number of resources available to you.

Get out those cameras and start writing. We need to tell everyone what a great job our members are doing! 

Joseph Giannattasio DSO-PB, Editor