By Admin. Updated 9:42 a.m., Friday, September 6, 2024, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
Kadijah O’Neil, 17, is the winner of the inaugural One News SVG Journalism Summer Challenge.
In the results announced on Friday, Ms. O’Neil’s story which investigated the impact and management of Citrus Greening in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) received 79 points, the highest grade from the judge.
The second highest grade went to Ananda-Le Henry with 76 points who focused on the impact of inmate rehabilitation in SVG through the lens of the Vetiver Grass Programme.
There was also an award for the best multimedia production which went to Nareini Chandler, a 14-year-old student of the St. Vincent Girls’ High School. She investigated the impact of plastic bottle recycling programmes in SVG.
Finalist Kai-le Henry, the lone male in the finals of the challenge focused on gender equality in sports in SVG.
Kadijah will receive $500 cash from G&R Icecream Shop and Gerald’s Drinks Shop at the Grenadines Wharf and prizes from Tus-T Water.
Her story will also be published on One News SVG’s website and social media platforms.
The other finalists will also receive other prizes and a chance to have their stories published on One News SVG.
The challenge which was open to teens ages 14-19 ran from August 12 to 23 saw seven active participants, four of which advanced to the finals.
The challenge was initially supposed to begin in July, and there were 15 registrants, but because of the impact of Hurricane Beryl, the challenge was postponed, affecting some people’s ability to participate at the later date of August 12.
This year the focus was on the environmental issues or promoting the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The participants had one week to learn about journalism writing, ethics, research, storyboarding and other relevant issues. Then, they had another week to conduct independent research and put their respective stories together.
Given the short time span and challenges with access to the information, they were encouraged to have at least two authoritative sources in their stories.
The investigative stories were judged on content quality (30 points) which looked at relevance to the topic and depth of research, Structure and Organization (30 points) which looked at clarity of the introduction, the logical flow of the body, and the effectiveness of the conclusion, Writing Style and Mechanics (20 points) which looked at grammar, clarity and conciseness and engagement and voice; Use of Multimedia Elements (10 points) which looked at inclusion of appropriate visuals; and Completeness of the Article (10) points which looked at the overall article, a total of 100 points.
One News SVG 