April 2024
If your school is looking to take part in the Global Young Journalist Awards 2024, then you’re in the right place. In this article, we will share advice from previous winners on how they prepared for the competition, made their entry stand out, and what their experience was like.
Whether you have a class of aspiring journalists, or you’re looking to challenge your students with an exciting extracurricular activity, these insights will give you an idea of what you can expect from taking part in the Global Young Journalist Awards competition!
Below, Charis from St Mary’s School Cambridge, winner of the Under 11’s Anti-Racism category, shares her experience participating in the competition and how writing her entry helped her develop her journalism skills.
Participating and preparing for the Global Young Journalist Awards
Speaking of their experience participating in the competition, Charis said: “It was a truly insightful experience and I learned so much from other journalists. What really astounded me was the wide range of presentation methods that other participants displayed!”
With a wide range of categories available for students to choose from, Charis told us how and why she decided on to submit an entry for the anti-racism category: “I really couldn’t decide at first; there were just so many categories to choose from! I finally decided to pick Anti-Racism since it related to me as a foreigner to the UK along with the fact I was instantly compelled to be a voice for victims of racism, whose concerns have been disregarded, if not shunned to one side, though personally I have not experienced racism.”
Developing your journalism skills
We asked Charis what advice she would give to any students thinking of entering the competition next year, she answered: “Write something that not only includes factual language but also perhaps your point of view on the topic. Just go for it!”
Speaking of how entering the competition helped Charis develop her journalism skills, she said: “It helped me massively to grasp the skill of injecting my own point of view into my article along with the adeptness of gathering reliable data quickly. This technique was crucial in maintaining the sense of the appalling treatment victims of racism suffered throughout the composition.”
Celebration ceremony highlights
“My favourite part of the event was when the judge of my category- Stuart Lawerence- gave his comments on my piece of writing. It would really assist me in refining future essays in the form of journalism”.
Finally, we asked Charis if she would recommend the Global Young Journalist Awards to other students: “Yes, I most certainly would! Entering the Global Young Journalist Awards was such a vital step for me as an aspiring writer. Not only did it allow me to experiment with different styles of writing, but it also paved the way for me to further develop my journalism prowess and dexterity. I would absolutely recommend the Global Young Journalist Awards to any flourishing writers or people hoping to hone their writing competency.”
Watch our 2023 celebration ceremony!
Did you miss the ceremony? Click here to watch and celebrate the winners of 2023’s Global Young Journalist Awards! Click here to watch!
Register for the 2024 awards
This year’s competition has now closed, but you can register here to join our mailing list for next year. Register here