Fall Challenge #1 Results

October 14, 2016

The judges have spoken and here are the results of MIPA’s Fall Challenge #1!

First, is the Staff Editorial Challenge.

The judge did not award a winner.

We are going to have a good old-fashioned “do over” and include the Staff Editorial Challenge again on MIPA Fall Challenge #2.

Here are the judge’s comments to use with your staffs as an opportunity to learn and grow:

“Staff editorials should include and discuss both viewpoints. Staff editorials should not have an individual byline. They should, by their very nature, reflect the consensus of the entire staff’s opinions. They should also be well-researched and edited. For this contest, staffs were given a topic about a very specific piece of legislation. The act is actually called the “Walter Cronkite New Voices Act,” please note that for future reference. Typos will distract readers from the content itself and the credibility of said content. Use the AP style. For example, it’s the “First Amendment” per AP style. Verb choice is important. The credibility of sources also needs to be set up in a staff editorial. Thank you for entering, while I did not choose as a winner this time, I encourage all to try again.”

Second, is the Broadcast Story Challenge.

Here is what the judge said:

“Stories submitted for the Broadcast Challenge did a good job of finding stories to portray the high cost of health. The winning story, “Claire’s Journey” was compelling because it focused on one family facing these high costs. The team started by introducing Claire and then gradually revealed her family’s struggle to find the right medication to reduce her chronic seizures. B-roll showed the many drugs that they have tried and are using to deal with Claire’s condition. The central conflict is then revealed: the drug that may finally work is not covered by insurance. The story concludes with specifics about the cost and the family’s faith that is helping them through this crisis. Overall, the stories that had the most impact were able to combine both facts and statistics about health care costs through the perspective of a single individual or family who is facing this issue. Congratulations to all the teams for tackling a serious problem facing our country today!”

FIRST:

Claire’s Journey by Megan Yenzer, Dylan Brocato, Ellie Scheer, and Molly Landolt of WHS Blue Jay Journal TV