Journalism is literature in a hurry. And, true to the spirit, they lived up to the adage.
They were hard-pressed for time and space. Still, they came out with write-ups way ahead of their age and experience.
Participants at the ‘Young Journalists’ meet’ organised by The Hindu In School in association with Roots, an international school of business and management, here on Sunday showed a lot of promise.
They displayed their writing skills on the topic, ‘Who is your role model in life’, which was announced on the spot. Nearly 100 students of classes 6 to 12 from various schools, including some from Gulbarga in Karnataka, turned up for the competition.
The participants were judged on the basis of core journalistic skills such as content creation, information management, language and expression.
“All of you have good writing skills and have the potential to become good journalists,” said Prof. P.L. Vishweshar Rao, former head of the Journalism Department, Osmania University, who was one of the judges.
Parents as role models
Most students wrote about their parents being their role models, indicating strong family values. Some chose Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda, William Shakespeare, Steve Jobs and even the manager of a private bank as their role models. Some participants, the judges felt, were extremely good in writing introductory passages, developing the theme and concluding the article on a proper note.
Challenges of scribes
Earlier, Mr. Rao spoke about the challenges of journalism. He said journalists rubbed shoulders with high profile people, besides influencing policies.
Yet, they have to be level-headed and balanced in their writings.
He added that newspapers were not in immediate danger of extinction in India as Internet penetration in the country was not as heavy as it is in the west.
Consolation prizes
Incidentally, many participants secured equal marks. In view of the quality of writing exhibited by them, the organisers announced an extra two consolation prizes.
P. Ranga Reddy, regional general manager, The Hindu , gave away the prizes. A. Sushmita, a class 9 student of Geetanjali Devashray, bagged the first prize.
The second prize went to Bakhita. P of Pallavi Model School and third prize to P. Shreya of Geetanjali Devashala. Winners of consolation prizes are: Shilpi Mandal (Army Public School), Asra Banu (Princess Esin Girls High School), Arjun Ramesh (FITJEE World School), R. Suryanarayanan (Sister Nivedita school) and Diya Rao (Delhi Public School). Lotus Pie milk and Lotus Chocolates were the associate sponsors.
