By Carmel Roserg Deligos & Phoemela Nicole Gutierrez |
To write, capture, and tell a story—these are what journalists need to capture the hearts and minds of readers.
In ensuring to foster the theme of this year's Ignite 2023, the Ateneo de Davao University Senior High School (AdDU-SHS) Pulsong Atenista Student Government (PASG) has spearheaded the Sulatenista Press Conference last February 3, 10, 16, and 23, 2023, including six sub-events in both Filipino and English media. Student journalists were given the opportunity to represent their respective clusters in photojournalism, news, editorial, feature, literary, and sports writing.
As each event was held on different dates, those who were more than willing were also able to represent their cluster in a maximum of two of the said sub-events. This being said, the location and dates of per event are as follows:
News Writing - February 3, 2023, at Building D, Room 402.
Sports Writing - February 3, 2023, at Building D, Room 403.
Feature Writing - February 10, 2023, at Building D, Room 403.
Editorial Writing - February 16, 2023, at Building D, Room 403.
Literary Writing - February 16, 2023, at Building D, Room 404.
Photojournalism - February 23, 2023, at Building D, Room 403.
Participants were able to prepare for their turn to write and capture through various practices such as trainings held by their clusters or even merely by practicing on their own by looking up on the internet examples or instructions and guides of how to write the types of article they're supposed to make or how to caption better a photo they took.
"The event really tested the students' expertise when it came to writing in an hour, which was one of the benefits that can really help the students to prove themselves in the field of journalism," Allen Alocelja, a Barcelona participant for Filipino News and Editorial writing, shared.
This goes to show that, as seen in each cluster, by support and preparation, challenges can be overcome through camaraderie, for teamwork truly makes the dream work.
Charlize Jillian Gazmen, a PASG committee in charge for Sulatenista, shared, "One main benefit is that the participants will be informed regarding Mindanaon issues since the topics are mainly focused on Mindanao and the current problems of society." She also further elaborated on how Sulatenista can encourage sportsmanship in the sense that the writers respect each other's ideas, fully exhibiting the Ignite 2023 theme on sportsmanship and camaraderie through this new normal.
With the help of the expertise of the three judges, Mr. Reil Benedict Obinque, moderator of The Blue Bridge for the English Category, Mrs. Stephanie Camille Hayag, moderator of Tulay for the Filipino Category, and an anonymous expert who served as overall chair for all of the events—each of the entries was evaluated, and the winners were selected. The Sulatenista Ateneo Press conference became a huge success in nurturing and sharing journalism skills
In the end, for the top 3 overall winners of the Sulatenista: the Manresa Cluster raised their pens to victory as the overall champions, while Rome and Montserrat were awarded as the first and second runner-ups, respectively.
Journalism is truly a work of art that can bridge people together through passion. The Sulatenista Ateneo Press Conference brought writers from different clusters altogether through their common gifts and talents. May this event be a source of inspiration to each aspiring writers and journalists to continue holding their pens to bleed words and to tell stories from the grassroots.
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