1st Place, News Brief
2023-24, Division 2, News Writing
By Allison Sheets
Update
H. H. Dow HS
Student Leadership will be hosting a Snowflake Sweatpants Soirée on March 1, in the cafeteria from 7-10 p.m. Admission is $2. The Sweatpants Soirée is working in tandem with Social Awareness week as it is a charity fundraiser. The admission paid to enter the dance will go towards a social awareness topic of the student’s choice.
“I really wanted to bring another dance to Dow High because our only other staple dances are homecoming and prom,” junior and Student Leadership 3 member Francis Borden said. “I was brainstorming something that had to do with winter, but that was also casual. I also love alliteration, thus the Sweatpants Soirée was born.”
The Sweatpants Soirée is also doing a giveaway of a pair of Nike sweatpants. Students will automatically be entered into the drawing with their $2 admission. Leadership is hoping to bring students together as a community to celebrate Social Awareness week, and also give back to those that have helped with social awareness week.
“We want to give back to the communities that have helped us along the way,” senior and Student Leadership executive board member Lauren VanSumeren said. “There have been a lot of support for this project, so with our admission fee we are trying to give back to them. I encourage students to pick the organization that really resonates with them or that they feel passionate about to really show our community that Dow High is aware of social stigmas in our school.”
NW-04. News Brief
News briefs should be 150-200 word stories that report on events and issues that have news value and timeliness to the publication’s readers. Coverage should include quotes or other attributed information from at least one human source.
Judging Criteria
- Meets word count limit
- Does not sacrifice accuracy for the sake of timeliness
- Sharp, attention-getting lead that underscores news story importance
- Uses inverted pyramid
- Sentences are carefully constructed to be as concise as possible
- Emphasizes news elements, i.e. timeliness, nearness, impact, and prominence
- Uses direct quotes or attributed information from at least one source