More than 1,000 students have already signed up to take part in our fantastic Junior Journalist project – and there’s still time for your school to register.
When the Press and Journal ran this initiative in 2015 – in association with The NEWS Foundation – more than 2,500 students from 112 classes took part and benefited hugely from the experience.
In addition to firing imaginations, encouraging teamwork and learning about every aspect of a newspaper, the Junior Journalist project awarded fabulous cash prizes.
Teamwork, vivid imaginations, history and a wonderful sense of fun helped primary four pupil, Blair Garrett, and primary five pupils, Megan Smith and Tamara Bradley, from Drumoak Primary School secure the top prize of £3,000 for their school.
Their version of a front page of the P&J had a dramatic headline: “Albert dead in the bed”, which related to Prince Albert being found dead in Queen Victoria’s bed, and two superb stunted photographs, showing a young Prince Albert and another of the older prince, complete with a fake moustache, lying on his deathbed while a horrified servant looked on.
The page also featured reader offers, adverts and stories relating to missionary David Livingstone’s work in Africa.
Having scooped the top prize, what followed was the pleasant, but difficult decision as to what to spend the money on….
Teacher, Gill Redman, said: “About nine months after we won, we moved to a brand new school building just five minutes away.
“We had originally considered buying a greenhouse, but because we were moving to a new school shortly, we decided against this.
“The new school was lovely, but it lacked playground equipment, so a lot of the money was used to buy things like scooter boards, stilts, balls and skipping ropes which the children could use in the playground.
“The new school also had a lovely library, but not many books, so we bought lots of books from authors such as J K Rowling and Jacqueline Wilson, selected by the children who designed the winning front page, and also bought a couple of iPads.
“Junior Journalist was a superb project and I would encourage all schools to get involved – we will be taking part again this year.
“The children developed a lot of skills as a result of taking part while the booklets, which were supplied, were really good, easy to use and made it a fun project.”
RUNNERS-UP
It might be small in stature, but Glenelg Primary School was a big success in our Junior Journalist 2015 event.
A passion for wildlife helped primary school pupil, Georgina MacMillan “wolf” down a whopping £1,000 runner-up prize for the school in the Highland village of Glenelg, near Kyle.
Georgina, who is now a pupil at Ullapool High School, created a front page packed with stories which related to her favourite topic – wolves and wildlife.
In a balanced report, she included opposing views and a three-person vox pop, which featured photographs and opinions from her classmates – and created adverts relating to the subject.
As a result of her hard work, 14 pupils from the little school quite literally went wild.
Head teacher, Kate MacArthur, explained: “We put the prize money towards a two-night break for primary five, six and seven pupils at Raasay House on the island of Raasay.
“It’s an outdoor activity centre and the youngsters had great fun trying everything from climbing and kayaking, to sailing and archery.
“They even had a bonfire on the beach. It was fantastic fun.”
“The Junior Journalist competition really captured the imagination of the pupils at the school. We sent away 12 entries, all of them really interesting and different, and I was delighted for Georgina and the school that we were selected as a winner.
“It made a huge difference to Georgina as to how she felt about her writing. Her content was really good, but I don’t think she appreciated that, so taking part in the competition really helped her.
And as for this year’s competition?
She added: “We’ve already applied to take part in this year’s Junior Journalist project!”
LEAVING A LEGACY
Sharing the hard work paid off for three pupils at Milne’s Primary School in Fochabers, who won a £1,000 runners-up cash prize for their school.
Then aged 10, primary six pupils, Joy Winkler, Ava Wheeler and Faith Hopkins put their heads together and came up with a colourful front page packed with the sort of exclusive stories newspapers love.
These were accompanied by superb drawings and illustrations, along with adverts for local facilities, including an orphanage and Moray Leisure Centre, which caught the judges’ eyes.
While the girls have all now moved on to secondary school, they have left behind something of a legacy for their fellow pupils as their joint teacher, Mrs Amanda Mailer, explained.
She said: “After winning the £1,000 prize, we consulted with the children who decided they would like to buy something which they could use, but which would also be available to other pupils after they had left the school.
“We bought a SMARTboard for the classroom, which is linked to the teacher’s computer, but is also interactive, so the children can use it to show their work to the rest of the class.
“It’s been hugely successful, but what’s nice is that it not only benefited the class which took part in the Junior Journalist project, but subsequent classes and children too.”
How to enter
If you wish to enter, just fill out the registration form. The project and competition is offered to all primary schools across the circulation area.
The contest starts after the February midterm and all completed entries must be received by the Easter holidays.
The best entries will get to share in a bumper prize fund of £3,000.
