Dalefield School placed second. PHOTOS/JADE CVETKOV
Pupils from the Carterton district have taken all the top spots in the Wairarapa Times-Age School Newspaper Competition.
For the first time in the competition’s history, Dalefield School has been knocked from the top spot – this year placing second and winning $1000 with their newspaper Dalefield Star.
Taking the crown – and a whopping $1500 cheque – was Carterton School’s newspaper titled Carterton Korero.
But Carterton School’s success didn’t stop there – they also took out third place with their newspaper Taratahi Times.
Wairarapa Times-Age news director Emily Ireland said nothing made her happier than “seeing young people achieve great things”.
“And when those great things also relate to journalism, it’s a dream come true for me.”
As one of the judges, Ireland said the competition among the school newspapers across the region was fierce.
Fourteen schools registered in the competition, and 41 entries were received.
“It would seem Carterton kids have a knack for news,” Ireland said.
Fellow judge and Times-Age operations manager Bevan Wills said Dalefield School was known as “the school who knows newspapers” and labelled them as “one of the most challenging schools to beat in this competition”.
He judged the overall design of the entries.
“There were more entries than ever before, and the competition was fierce,” Wills said.
“Newspaper design is about making the newspaper easy to read and look as pretty as possible, making you want to read it.
“If it is done right, it will make you read a page in the newspaper.
“If it is done well, it will make you think ‘wow that was a cool page’.”
Times-Age publisher Andrew Denholm, who also judged the entries, was impressed by the high calibre of school newspapers entered this year.
“We’re trying to promote literature and reading for kids who one day want to get into the newspaper industry.
“Perhaps we will even have some new young readers from this.”
Contributors to Carterton Korero were Shiloh Cayless, Layla Fruean, Eden Pratt, Jacob Paul, George O’Sullivan, Max Coulson, Winifred Jellie, Luca Rodier, Jason Hooper, and Liam Dennes.
Carterton Korero ran in Saturday’s Times-Age.
