The Republican Post followed Anderson Secondary School through its three-day journey at The Media Challenge. The school, which was participating for the first time, clinched the overall top prize this year. SITI NOOR NADIAH reports.
March 17, 2015
The five students representing Anderson Secondary School at The Media Challenge have been members of the school’s Infocomm Club for nearly three years. They spent the morning attending four workshops focused on journalism, before a press conference at the Urban Redevelopment Authority. There, Singapore’s urban planners talked about the country’s conservation policies. The team had only been told about the area they were assigned to cover – Tiong Bahru – in the morning. “I enjoyed the social media workshop the most, because it was the most engaging,” said team member Charmaine Tan.
March 18
Day two kicked off with talks by two industry professionals – The Straits Times’ Joyce Lim and MediaCorp’s Daniel Martin. After a quick lunch, the team set off for Tiong Bahru. There, the team experienced difficulty securing an interview. After being repeatedly rejected by elderly men and women, the group finally secured an interview with a shop owner at Tiong Bahru Market. “It was tiring but I just kept trying,” said team member Isaac Wong. Facing a tight submission deadline, the team decided to stay over at Gabrielle Elizabeth’s house to complete their work.
March 19
The team struggled to complete its tasks. It was only after a cup of Milo at 2am that the team found its groove. “We were really tired and we still hadn’t found an angle for our article,” said Charmaine. “Around 2am, Felicia was drinking Milo and suddenly she had a really great idea.” The team then got to work, racing against the deadline of 11am to complete their news package which focused on the transformation of Tiong Bahru. Bleary-eyed, the team exchanged looks of disbelief when it was announced at 4pm that they had clinched the overall top prize. “We didn’t expect to win the best news package. We thought other schools will win it, so we were quite shocked,” said team member Felicia Ng.
