Region subeditor Andrew Sutton working on an article. Photo: Supplied.
Wagga-born Andrew Sutton clearly remembers the disheartening words ‘See me please’ on a page of his school exercise book.
Though the ensuing education on the correct use of ‘its’ vs ‘it’s’ would be long remembered, it would not be applied regularly until many years later.
“At school, I was more interested in science subjects and followed that through to university, which led to 10 years in Sydney as an industrial chemist developing foam formulations for items such as chairs, headrests and cool room panels, and later formulating tile adhesives and grouts,” Andrew said.
A career change away from commercial science was prompted by “Sydney’s property prices and the car park that is Parramatta Road”, which resulted in a return to Wagga for Andrew and a new adventure for his then-girlfriend (now wife), following their six months of travelling around the US and South America in 2008.
With little in the way of a chemistry industry in his hometown, Andrew successfully applied for a position at The Daily Advertiser (DA), a paper he had read as a schoolboy.
“I had always been an avid reader of newspapers, and I was keen on coming up with headlines and contributing to story ideas in a newsroom,” Andrew said. “Subediting eventually led to writing.”
The DA job was, to that point, Andrew’s favourite – poles apart from his first job delivering pamphlets around Wagga’s streets – but was prematurely cut short by the changing industry.
“The writing was on the wall as to what would become of subeditors there and I moved to the Illawarra in 2014 with my wife and two kids to take on a role at the University of Wollongong,” Andrew said.
Following various communications and marketing roles, Andrew was hired by Region in 2022 to edit Region Riverina owing to his knowledge of Wagga and its surrounds.
“I’ve subbed some great stories at Region and, on the Riverina side, a few stand out,” Andrew said. “Number one, because it shows Wagga is home to people with world-class talent, is a post about a cartoonist who provides drawings for SpongeBob SquarePants.
“Secondly, a post about the Riverside development was of particular interest to me, having spent many days swimming in the river or running along its banks as part of PE classes growing up.
“Chris Roe’s pieces on the history of Lake Albert have also been intriguing.”
When he’s not correcting copy, Andrew “attempts to play guitar like Mark Knopfler and paint like Nicholas Harding”.
“It’s only in recent years that I’ve returned to painting after a long layoff,” he said. “I like to paint ‘alla prima’ with a palette knife – the subject matter is quite often a captivating landscape.”
Original article published on Region Illawarra.
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