This year’s Jesuit Communications Australia (Jescom) Young Voices Awards, with the theme ‘Media for good’, gives Australian students the chance to show what they want from communications media.
Jescom head of publishing Michael McVeigh said there can be disillusionment with the breadth and depth of reporting, and Jescom’s annual awards were an opportunity to discuss and advocate on issues of importance to students.
‘This year we want entrants to consider the stories they want to tell, as well as how they are told. They could benefit the community by drawing attention to social concerns, such as justice issues or the environment, but hopefully as well they demonstrate the kind of media reporting that is essential to a healthy society,’ he said.
In his Communications Day message on 24 January, Pope Francis said listening was the indispensable first step in human communication and a dimension of love. Without listening, he said, there was no good journalism.
‘In order to provide solid, balanced, and complete information, it is necessary to listen for a long time. To recount an event or describe an experience in news reporting, it is essential to know how to listen, to be ready to change one’s mind, to modify one’s initial assumptions.’
Listening allowed people to exercise the art of discernment, the ability ‘to orient ourselves in a symphony of voices’, Pope Francis said.
Jescom’s Young Voices Awards are brought to you in conjunction with Australian Catholic University. They are open to all students around the country and have evolved from the Australian Catholics Young Journalist Awards. The awards have expanded to recognise a wider range of media including poetry, photography, video and audio as well as written articles.
Mr McVeigh said broadening the scope of the entries made it easier for teachers to incorporate the awards into their lesson plans, and opened the opportunity for national recognition to more students.
THE AWARDS SPAN THREE DIVISIONS:
Junior: Years 5 and 6
ntermediate: Years 7-9
Senior: Years 10-12
Students may enter one of three sections – print, digital (podcast or video entry), or photographic.
Sponsored by long-time Young Journalist Awards sponsor Australian Catholic University (ACU), the Awards give primary and secondary school students, not just those enrolled at Catholic schools, around the country a voice – and the opportunity to be published in the largest circulation Catholic print publication in the country. Winning entries also feature on Australian Catholics digital channels.
Detailed information on the Young Voices Awards is available on the Australian Catholics website.
Image: Lucia Minto of St Joseph’s Primary School, Merewether, was winner of the 2021 Junior Section for her digital story ‘The cover is not the book’. Her message was about the importance of not discriminating against others based on their appearance, and was prompted by her relationship with her great-aunt Mary. After her win last year, Lucia, pictured with her aunt Mary, was featured in Aurora magazine (published by the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle). Photographer: Peter Stoop.