Welcome to Shine 2021

It is hard to imagine a more extraordinary year, one which we will never forget. The past few weeks have been tumultuous ones for schools and teachers, getting to grips firstly with the results debacle, then safety guidelines and how to employ them, and the arrival of children who may have forgotten what school is! There is no doubt that coronavirus has brought profound changes to our ways of living and being, and although many of us have faced hard challenges and sorrows, there have undoubtedly been silver linings and positive repercussions to the situation.

As you may know, we ran the Shine 2020 competition despite the challenges. What transpired was truly exciting, invigorating and illuminating. We received mostly digital entries, some of which had been created entirely during lockdown. Students gathered in their virtual teams, some communicating over continents, to create extraordinary results. Distance and seclusion did not hamper the production of integrated, seamless magazines and online newspapers. We learned that finding ways around problems can produce even better outcomes.

We missed the excitement, pomp and jolity of the ceremony at Stationers’ Hall, but the response to our video results announcement was so enthusiastic and avid, that we will certainly be using technology to stream the ceremony in future.

Now, more than ever, is the time to give students the chance to express their opinions, to communicate with their own and wider communities, and to show us what can be achieved. They are, after all, the innovators of tomorrow.

I hope that despite the ongoing challenges in achieving your curriculum objectives that you will continue to consider a school magazine or newspaper, digital or printed as an essential part of your students’ education. Please register as soon as you can.

Those of you who won awards this year will be receiving your framed letterpress certificates in the next few days to hang on your walls – things of beauty if we may say!

As ever, get in touch on email via shine@stationers.org

Alison Strachan
Chair of Shine