by Nelson Graves | 9 May 2022 | African Leadership Academy, Contests, News Decoder Updates, Realgymnasium Rämibühl Zürich, Thacher School, Transylvania College, Youth Voices
Kai Lengwiler of Realgymnasium Rämibühl Zürich examined Switzerland’s fight against drugs, winning News Decoder’s 11th Storytelling Contest. Winners of the 11th News Decoder Storytelling Contest A video report by a high school student in Zurich examining...
by Leila Roker | 17 Sep 2021 | Contests, Human Rights, Media Literacy, News Decoder Updates
Innovative educators from Bolivia, the U.S. and Nigeria have won awards for teaching why news matters and about threats to journalists. An international jury has singled out educators in Bolivia, the U.S. and Nigeria for innovative teaching about why democratic...
by Nolwazi Mjwara | 6 Jul 2021 | Contests, Educators' Catalog, Media Literacy, News Decoder Updates, Youth Voices
A News Decoder partner has awarded top prizes to news organizations in five countries for innovative reporting on COVID-19 for kids. News organizations in Denmark, Germany, Indonesia, Singapore and the United States have won top global reporting prizes for their...
After more than a year of COVID-19 reporting, it can be hard to find a fresh perspective on the pandemic, especially for children. But the gold-medal winners of the Global Youth and News Media Prize for pandemic reporting did just that. In an interview with the prize’s director, Aralynn McMane, News Decoder Board member Nolwazi Mjwara of UNESCO learns more about the innovative strategies taken by the winning news organizations to engage children in the storytelling process and support their mental health. Winning strategies included creating interactive games, dispatching youth correspondents to cover the pandemic and hosting a virtual art exhibition.
Exercise: How might you adopt some of these reporting practices in your own classrooms? Have your students create a game for kids to learn about issues in the news in a fun, positive way.
by Nelson Graves | 12 May 2021 | Contests, News Decoder Updates, Thacher School, Westover School
Students at Thacher and Westover schools took five of eight awards in News Decoder’s latest Storytelling Contest, won by Christina MacCorkle. The winners of News Decoder’s Ninth Storytelling Contest, clockwise from upper left: Li Keira Yin, Christina...
by Miriam Hernandez | 23 Apr 2021 | Art, Contest winners, Contests, Culture, Educators' Catalog, Identity, Immigration, Personal Reflections, Student Posts, Westover School, Youth Voices
My family came to the U.S. from Mexico. I used to be ashamed of our humble lifestyle. I offer these photos to show I’m now proud. This story won a third prize in News Decoder’s Ninth Storytelling Contest. Originally from Zapotitlan Palmas, a small town in...
Many students have much to say, but freeze when asked to put pen to paper. Asking them to first engage in other forms of self-reflection may make it easier to produce powerful written texts. Miriam Hernandez of Westover School demonstrates this point with her piece on growing up in the United States as a daughter of Mexican immigrants. Hernandez began with uncaptioned photographs of her family’s surroundings — a dinner table, a kitchen sink, a breeze through the front door — and later produced accompanying text — simple, direct, unvarnished — that complements the photos. Together, the pictures and text offer a candid glimpse of the author’s upbringing and how she came to terms with her heritage.
Exercise: Ask your students to take a series of photographs of life at home and to then write about what the images represent to them.