The Australian Catholics Young Journalist Award will be bigger than ever in 2020. Here are all the details and key dates to help teachers plan how to support their students in entering the awards next year.
For the first time, the 2020 Young Journalist Award will include categories for photo journalism and digital journalism, along with print journalism.
Sponsored by Australian Catholic University, the Young Journalist Award has been running in primary and secondary schools across Australia for more than 20 years, offering students the opportunity to have their work published in Australian Catholics magazine.
Technology brings new options
Journalism has changed a great deal over those two decades. While the written word is still a valuable format for storytelling, technology has opened up other options for journalists to capture and share stories in our world.
‘Young people interested in journalism today have access to video and audio recording technology that was much harder to come by 20 years ago. It makes sense that we give them the opportunity to learn how to tell stories in these formats and enter their work in our awards’, says Australian Catholics Editor Michael McVeigh.
‘Australian Catholics itself has become as much an online platform as it is a print publication. We look forward to being able to feature the winning entries through our print publication, e-newsletters and social media.’
Three categories
As with previous years, the award will have two sections – Junior (Year 5 and 6), and Intermediate (Year 7 to 9). However each section will have three categories – Print Journalism, Photo Journalism and Digital Journalism.
Print entries will need to be 350 words (Junior Section) or 500 words (Intermediate Section). Photo entries will need to include between two and four images, with a 30 word blurb about the story. Digital entries will require a 2 minute video or audio story.
‘We’re still going to be looking for journalistic stories that feature interviews with at least one subject, and which answer the basic questions of who, where, when, why, what and how’, said McVeigh. ‘However, now we’re offering students a variety of ways to tell those stories.’
Stories of celebration
The theme for next year will be ‘Living it up: Stories of celebration’. Inspiring stories students might explore for their entries include sporting, academic or arts achievements, personal milestones, cultural and religious celebrations, or community events.
More details on the awards and how to enter will be available in the first edition of Catholic Teacher next year. The deadline for entries will be Friday 22 May.
For older students interested in a career in media or publishing, check out Jesuit Media's 2020 Media Internship program.