By Zack Gill
Staff Writer
Mustang journalists have tapped their ruby slippers together and are off to Kansas City.
Eleven members of the broadcast journalism staff and one member of La Vista will head to Kansas City, Missouri to compete in journalism competitions in the Fall National High School Journalism Convention that will take place on Nov. 11. Competitions will be judged by the National Scholastic Press Association and the Journalism Education Association.
Michael Hernandez, Mira Costa’s broadcast journalism and media arts teacher, and Costa parent Lynette Campbell are organizing the trip. They will both be traveling with the students.
There are several awards given for competitions in many areas of journalism, from news writing to podcasting. The awards are ranked by performance in competition, much like how participants would be judged in a sporting event.
“Students will be competing for superior, excellent and honorable mention awards,” Hernandez said.
The trip is open to all broadcast journalism students, and the Mustang Morning News will compete as a staff. In addition, broadcast journalists will also participate in several individual competitions.
“Our whole program will be competing for the ‘Best in Show’ category, which is basically, ‘Best High School Student News Cast.’ Others will carry-in stories for different categories like ‘Sports News Story’ or ‘Feature Story,’” Mustang Morning News anchor and sports editor Joe MacMahon said.
“Carry-in” competitions involve submitting previously created stories. There are also on-site competitions where competitors create entirely new stories during the convention.
“They give you the prompt at 8 o’clock and four hours later you have to have a finished news package. It’s a lot faster turnaround time than our show. That’s what makes it exciting,” Hernandez said.
Mustang journalists will not only be in attendance to compete. The event is also a valuable learning opportunity for high school students.
“There’s 50-minute seminars every hour for two days, and not just on broadcast journalism. They’re teaching the foundations of all types of journalism,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez and the Mustang Morning News staff members who will attend the convention have already begun to prepare for competition. Although they cannot view many of the prompts in advance, they are able to look at previous stories.
“We at Mustang Morning News basically prepare for the convention by searching through old shows for ones that could compete in a national competition. We also look at specific stories that people who are attending the convention worked on for the carry-in competitions,” MacMahon said.
Some competitions are more difficult to prepare for than other ones.
“I’m competing in ‘Commentary.’ You have 45 minutes to create a minute piece and you don’t know the topic. It’s more difficult to prepare for, so I’ve been touching up on my journalism notes, Mustang Morning News features producer and anchor Brittany Clark said.
This trip is following the Mustang Morning News staff’s attendance at the Fall National High School Convention held last year in Washington DC. It was held from Nov. 12-15, and Mira Costa students won several awards.
“We won honorable mentions in ‘Broadcast Package’ and ‘Broadcast News Story,’ as well as an excellent in PSAs (public service announcements),” Hernandez said.
As for sightseeing in Kansas City, nothing is explicitly planned.
“There is not a lot of major sightseeing around, but we will still try and explore the area,” Campbell said.
Hernandez is not only representing his staff. He will be judging several competitions and doing his part to relay the knowledge he has gained as a journalism teacher for other students at the convention as well.
“I’m doing a pre-convention seminar on Final Cut Pro, as well as two other seminars during the convention,” Hernandez said.
Ultimately, the convention will be a learning experience for Mustang journalists.
“It doesn’t really matter to me if they win competitions, because the point of going is being exposed to different teachers and ideas and bonding as a staff,” Hernandez said.
Leave a Reply