Shine news

This past week I was thrilled to host our first ever online teachers’ forum. The idea behind the session was to assist teachers who are overseeing students putting together a school newspaper or magazine project.

We know that managing that kind of project raises all kinds of practical questions and we thought if we put you and your colleagues together with fellow educators who work in media, as well as a seasoned newspaper journalist, we’d be on to something.

Sometimes the best way of finding common ground with others is by telling them how we feel. A school magazine, podcast or newspaper can be a forum in the Roman sense: a print or digital ‘town square’ where students are truly heard. It’s a unique opportunity to bring their stories to life.

I recall a winning entry from two years ago by student writer Hilary Hanslin whose piece, “Don’t touch my hair” caused a sensation with the Shine School Media Award judges, winning Best writer for a non-fiction piece.

Today we’re continuing series two of Ask the Experts, our video podcasts where Shine alumni have the opportunity to put their questions to some of the fantastic people we have in our address book.

Our next episode is on Podcasts, hosted by Luke Chapman from Young Writers.

Today we’re continuing series two of Ask the Experts, our video podcasts where Shine alumni have the opportunity to put their questions to some of the fantastic people we have in our address book.

Our second episode is on Copyright, hosted by Julie Murray.

This week we are celebrating more of our invaluable ‘Ask the Expert’ videos, which we hope will give you some ideas and advice on different aspects of journalism and the industries linked to publishing.

Last time I promised news on the teachers’ forums we are setting up to aid those new to the process of managing a student project. The exciting news is that we are off and running with this initiative and the first forum takes place next week. Places on the first three sessions are already fully booked, so if you haven’t yet done so, and would find it useful to talk to other teachers about how they go about organising and managing their student publication, please get in touch.