One of the great benefits of a community newspaper is that it gives people in the community it serves unequaled opportunity to be involved in the publication process.

Community newspapers give their readers a broad variety of ways to interact with the staff and with other readers. Here at the Suffolk News-Herald, for instance, we encourage readers to submit letters to the editor, and we run most of those that we receive. We accept write-ups from people about weddings and engagements, club meetings and events, sporting contests and practices and all manner of other community affairs and organizations. On our website, we allow comments on virtually all of our stories, resulting in a lively community discussion about the state of the city.

We seek a similar exchange of ideas on the pages of our sister publication, Suffolk Living magazine. Already, readers from all over are sending us photos of themselves holding copies of the magazine in various vacation and residential locations around the world, giving us a variety of arresting images to publish and making us proud to have been carried along on those trips.

But we’re also working to add new points of connection between Suffolk Living and its readers. In coming issues, look for letters to the editor, look for personal accounts of why your neighbors love Suffolk, look for more interaction on Facebook and between our social media friends and readers of the print version of Suffolk Living.

Following on the heels of the extremely popular cover shot on the September/October edition of Suffolk Living, which was taken by an amateur, we also plan more opportunities for amateurs to see their photography in the magazine, both on covers and in features.

To that end, we are encouraging entries in our first Suffolk Living Photo Contest. Check our Facebook pages for more information on the rules and entry procedures, but the general idea is that the contest is open to amateur photographers, its deadline is Nov. 1, and awards will be presented in five different categories: outdoors, people, home interiors and exteriors, architecture and structures and action.

We’ve seen some fine photography from people all over Suffolk and have enjoyed the opportunity to publish many of those photos on the pages of the Suffolk News-Herald many times through the years. We’re excited now to be able to give them a chance to see some of those photos on the glossy, full-color pages of our magazine.

Whether in the form of this newspaper or in that of the glossy Suffolk Living magazine, we are here for the people of Suffolk. We are part of this community and are excited to that you have a chance to participate with us to create quality publications. We can’t wait to engage you.