Tuesday, February 19, 2008 Young writers gather for national press conference
TO ENCOURAGE young writers to hone their craft and promote campus journalism, the Department of Education (DepEd) will hold the National Schools Press Conference for school year 2007-2008 this week in Koronadal City, South Cotabato.
The event, which was spearheaded by DepEd's Bureau of Secondary Education (BSE) and Bureau of Elementary Education (BEE) is open to elementary and high school students from public and private schools.
"Our campus journalists would do well to look up to our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, whose writings paved the way for our nation's birth," DepEd Secretary Jesli Lapus said.
Themed "Promoting Consumers' Rights Through Campus Journalism," this five-day conference -- with an expected 1,428 student-participants from both public and private schools nationwide -- aims to build awareness on consumers' rights and responsibilities through campus journalism.
It also seeks to enrich students' journalistic learning experience as they focus on issues affecting consumers and enhance journalistic competencies through individual and group competitions.
"This is a good venue to gather the best writers in our schools and showcase their skills and capabilities," Lapus said.
Aside from individual written outputs, school papers will also be judged. Students will also benefit from lectures by professional media practitioners.
The categories for the elementary and high school group contest are: Editorial Page, Feature/Literary Page, News Page, Sports Page, and Layout Design for English and Filipino.
For the individual writing contest, the categories in English and Filipino for both elementary and secondary levels are: Photojournalism, Copy Reading and Headline Writing, Editorial, News, Features, Sports Writing, and Editorial Cartooning. (Press release)
