Shine news

Last month I told you about our (actual) roving reporter Liz Hunt’s visit to Strood Academy in Rochester. Many teachers might remember Senior Editor Liz from our teacher forums we hold on Shine Award days every year.

The purpose of Liz’s visit was to help students keen to put together a great Shine entry. We like to be as fair as possible, so Liz has kindly written up her talk into ten invaluable ideas and guidelines to follow to create a better publication. We’re publishing them here for the benefit of everyone keen to get involved in Shine 2024…

This week, we have a report from Liz Hunt, our Shine Awards Committee Member at Large. Liz’s day job is Senior Associate Editor at the Daily Mail and she’s supported Shine as a judge for many years now. This past week, Liz went to Rochester to speak to the students at Strood Academy.

Why was she there? Liz explains all…

This year, we’re teaming up with LoveReading4Kids, a programme which has created a way to redress that shortfall; an easy way to share the magic of reading through supporting a school close to your heart – simply by buying the books you’d have bought for Christmas gifts anyway, through their bookstore, a platform with social purpose.

This week I have news which is a bit of a game-changer for next year’s awards. I’ve been talking for a few months to Doug Wills. He’s the Editor Emeritus of the London Evening Standard and Chair of the London Press Club. Keen to help schools and encourage the next generation of journalists, we’ve agreed that the London Press Club is going to back Shine by sponsoring a new award.

This past week I made a speech telling a room full of people at our second annual ‘Shine Alumni’ event how excited I was about students who enter the Shine Awards.

And it’s true: that energy and inventiveness is inspiring. I want to share what I told the people that room, in the hope it inspires a new school year to do just the same to create a media project this coming year.

Looking out of the window today, the leaves are yellow, Halloween and bonfire night has been and gone, and we’re into the second half of the Autumn Term. Amid such a busy time of year I’m hoping your school media projects are hitting their stride. What did you decide to do? A full magazine focussing on student life this year? A series of pieces focussing on local issues? Maybe a podcast about the school football team?

As a massive fan of students’ emerging creativity, I can’t wait to find out what they’re writing about. When we judge the Awards, we find students always look forward, beyond what the media are covering today, telling us ‘what’s next’ and what the future holds.