Make a Newspaper programme awards $100,000

September 21, 2004

Make a Newspaper programme awards $100,000 to winning schools at the Ellerslie convention centre.

The New Zealand Herald's Make a Newspaper programme held its annual awards ceremony at the Ellerslie Convention Centre yesterday. Twenty winning schools from around the North Island came to take part in the ceremony and collect their prize of $5,000 cash.

The programme runs over terms two and three of the school year and requires each entry to submit a 10 page, tabloid style newspaper with it's own masthead, articles, photos and pictures. Each page has a different theme that relates to each sponsor, such as the Watties "Cooking" page, or the Norske Skog "World" page.

This year 221 newspapers were submitted for judging and of those 10 intermediate schools and 10 primary schools were chosen as winners and invited to attend the awards ceremony. The newspapers are judged by a panel of senior editorial staff from the New Zealand Herald. Criteria such as content, presentation, illustrations, grammar and originality are all carefully considered in the judging process.

Gavin Ellis, Chief in Editor at the New Zealand Herald is delighted with this years entries. "We have seen continuous growth in the Make a Newspaper programme, both in the number of papers submitted and in the calibre of work. It's very pleasing to see such high quality entries being made at a Primary school level," he says.

Now in its fourth year, the Make a Newspaper programme has been recognised with accolades from INMA in 2002 and 2003 - Newspapers in Education award and the 2003 PANPA - Circulation for young readers award.

This year the programme had 9 main sponsors, HP New Zealand, Norske Skog, Watties, Microsoft, Whiskers/Pedigree, Bank of New Zealand, New Zealand Soccer and The Small Whites Programme, 5+ A Day in partnership with Foodtown Woolworths and Bayleys.

BNZ Youth Market and Segment Manager, Carmel Cauchi, is pleased to be a sponsor. "The Bank of New Zealand is proud to be associated with a programme that encourages literacy and social awareness in children. Being involved since its inception, we have been amazed at the high quality of entries and look forward to continuing our involvement in 2005 and beyond."

Each of the 9 sponsors gave a brief presentation, and presented cheques and certificates to the winning schools. Students or teachers from each of the schools were also invited to say a few words of acceptance.

David Graham, Principal of Kirikau School in Wanganui was pleased to be chosen as one of this years winners. "The students loved working on their newspaper. It's an innovative way of challenging them to read and write about topics that interest them. It also fits in really well with the school's curriculum," he said.

The Awards Ceremony was held at the Ellerslie Convention Centre on September 16th at 2.00pm.

-Ends-

Winning Primary Schools: Forest Lake School, Kirikau School, Manakau School, Marshall Laing School, Opotiki School, Opunake School, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School (Epsom), St John's School (Mairangi Bay), Te Puke Primary School, Waikanae School.

Winning Intermediate Schools: Ashbrook School, Bucklands Beach Intermediate, Kamo Intermediate, Kirikau School, Kirikau Courier, Ngakonui Valley School, Opotiki School, Orewa School, Hibiscus Herald, Pukeoware School, St Joseph's Primary School (Otahuhu), Taneatua School.

For more information on the NZ Herald Schools Programme, visit www.nzherald.co.nz/schools

ENDS

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