LONDON - 5 July 2007 - 545 words
Catholic
students win journalism awards
Two Catholic schools and a Catholic college were awarded prizes
by Archbishop Vincent Nichols in a ceremony at the House of Commons
yesterday, to mark the culmination of the Just News competition
2007.
Teams of students from Loreto Sixth Form College, Manchester (winner 16-19 category), Sacred Heart RC School in Redcar (winner 11-14 category) and St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic High School in St Helens (runner-up 11-14 category) created newspapers in real time, focusing on themes in Catholic Social Teaching. The prizes will be donated to CAFOD for use in their programmes to help to educate and empower young people in their communities in Sierra Leone and Liberia, West Africa.
'Just News' encourages students in Catholic schools and colleges to investigate themes of social justice, peace and development as well as reporting the main news of the day. Working in conjunction with the competition Newsday, which has been run by the Times Educational Supplement for almost 20 years, Just News enables students to get a sense of the newsroom dynamic and inspires budding journalists to experience news-making for themselves.
Daniel Mercer,15, Editor in Chief, St Augustine's said: "We put a lot of effort in and we are really pleased. We are now going to take on the school newspaper. Everyone had their own role, it was good team work. There was pressure and we got it done in the end."
Chris Parker, 13, Editor, Sacred Heart, Redcar said: "Working on the Just News newspaper was a once-in-a lifetime opportunity. We didn't expect to be able to come to the houses of Parliament! And it was great to be able to help people through CAFOD too. Our day off school means that other teenagers can go to school!
"We really enjoyed working on the project. It was also a chance for us to talk about issues like the environment, news events and children's issues that we feel are really important."
Archbishop Vincent Nichols said: "I would say to you all, keep the momentum going. Keep the passion for justice in the world and get this into public life."
"We are all here in the Houses of Parliament on the second day of the Gordon Brown government; in this seat of democracy where the principles of public life are explained and argued for. This is an incentive for you all to enter public life, and to share all you have learned in the Church and in school."
Archbishop Nichols added: "You have been exploring the nature of the media. You have been learning about the need to be attentive to detail, truthful and to maintain high ideals. High standards of journalism show high standards of justice. Your newspapers are not sensational, they are not aspiring to greed. They show your principles of truth and high ideals of how we can live, and they inspire others too."
Danny Curtin, Chair of the Young Christian Workers and a member of the Steering Committee set up to advise the Trustees of the Plater Trust, which has funded the competition, said he was 'delighted' that the Committee was able to use a small amount of the ring-fenced fund to encourage young people to examine their commitment to justice, development and peace, at very little cost.
Source: CES
© Independent Catholic
News 2007
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