Introducing 主播大秀 School Report 2017: The Pitch
Sharon Stokes
Editor, 主播大秀 News School Report
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It’s ten years since the 主播大秀 launched - a project aimed at engaging young people with the news and giving them a voice and a platform on which to tell their own stories. Since then we have worked with over three hundred thousand young people and schools across the UK.
How much things have changed since 2007 – particularly in the world of communication and technology. In our launch year Apple launched the first generation iPhone. Today young people are growing up in a world where they can consume and generate media on a scale never experienced before. They can access, share and create content - videos, vlogs, pictures and articles - independently and in a huge variety of ways.
It’s why after 10 years 主播大秀 School Report is changing and developing too.
This year we have created a new way for young people to share their story ideas with us - 主播大秀 School Report “The Pitch”. The Pitch gives 11-16 year olds the chance to send content directly to the 主播大秀, where it will be shared with and considered by a team of editors from across 主播大秀 programmes. Any stories which are commissioned will then be created by 主播大秀 Staff working alongside the young person who submitted it – to tell their story in their voice.
We’ve developed the “主播大秀 School Report Uploader” which mirrors the way young people share and upload content on social networks and online and makes it easy to pitch stories. Ideas can simply be sent in the form of videos, vlogs, pictures or text from a computer or a mobile phone.
主播大秀 School Report gives 60,000 young people each year the opportunity to research and produce their own reports with the help of 主播大秀 staff mentors. The project works in partnership with all types of secondary education schools and establishments, including Hospital Schools and Pupil Referral Units and involves young people of all social backgrounds and a range of special educational needs. The project culminates in an annual News Day (this year on March 16th).
We’ve also made the project year round – so we can reflect the stories and views of young people on stories throughout the year – not just on one day.
The 主播大秀 is in a unique position to give young people an opportunity to learn about journalism and since its launch 主播大秀 School Report has enjoyed many highlights. As well as reporting on stories that matter to them School Reporters have interviewed high-profile personalities and notables over the years including four serving Prime Ministers, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, Malala Yousafzai, Children’s Commissioners, the UN Special Envoy for Education, Director General of UNESCO, David Beckham, Angelina Jolie and Olympic and Paralympic athletes, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sir Richard Branson and the Earl of Wessex.
The project has won national and international awards including RTS Innovation in Education and the European Diversity award for Diversity in the Journalism category. But we want it to become an even better project which finds new ways of carrying on the good work. It is now a partnership made up of 主播大秀 News, 主播大秀 Sport, 主播大秀 Childrens’ and the 主播大秀 Academy. I hope these new partnerships will really help the project to play a greater role than ever before in educating young people about creating content which is interesting, accurate, and informative.
主播大秀 School Report shows us that young people have passionate views on politics and the challenging social issues facing them, their friends and their families, and they are not afraid to speak out. We want to continue to find ways for them to express their opinions and share their experiences.
We hope that by making it easier for young people to engage with the 主播大秀 we can share even more of their stories and ideas and help them use their digital skills to create content. If you’re 11-16 – or know someone who is – and have an interest in telling stories submit your stories . There will be more opportunities to have stories commissioned by news teams throughout the year.
As we enter a new charter finding new ways to understand, reach and reflect young audiences is a vital part of the 主播大秀’s mission. We want to give them a voice – and we want to listen.
Sharon Stoke is Editor, 主播大秀 News School Report
- Submit stories to via the 主播大秀 News School Report website
- News Day is on 16th March 2016