Reporting on the 2022 Journalism Competition

This year’s Journalism Competition was judged by Anu Anand Hall, a BBC World Service anchor/presenter with 22 years’ experience in international news and current affairs. Anu has worked all over the world, reporting major stories like the death of Mother Theresa, the 9/11 attacks on America, the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, the 2004 Asian Tsunami, Nepal’s devastating earthquakes in 2014 and several Indian elections.

Anu was incredibly impressed by the standard of writing from entries of all years. From sports journalism, restaurant reviews, opinion pieces, political journalism to film and theatre reviews and much more, there was an astonishing breadth of topics, variety of styles and diversity of voices: ‘What a range of topics - I learned so much!’ she observed.  Her key piece of advice for all the budding hacks in the School is to ‘Talk to people - that’s the NUMBER 1 goal of journalism - quote, Quote, QUOTE!’

Competition results are detailed below, along with the two winning articles. Many congratulations to Indira Pandit, for winning the Years 7-9 category, and to Orla Rostom, winner of the Years 11-12 category, and overall winner of the 2022 competition.  Their two articles, along with lots of other great pieces of KES journalism, can be read on our online student newspaper ‘Reviewed’ which welcomes submissions from pupils of all years.  Look out for Reviewed on the homepage of the VLE.

Years 7 – 9 

Winner

Indira Pandit ‘Does Spelt Food Spell Disaster: A reflection on living with my mother’ 
Our judge said: ‘I loved this! Written with irony and humour, great imagery and clever use of overstatement which really works!’ 

Runners Up

Lawrence Moore ‘The Lazy Burger, Bristol: I could get better meat at motorway services’
Our judge said: ‘The author’s voice shines with humour, a little well-placed sarcasm and use of fabulous phrases and great descriptions. Excellent Satire!’

Panos Katsimihas ‘Za Za Bazaar: Restaurant Review’
Our judge said: ‘This is a great review – focused, descriptive, it leads us through the expectation to the reality and the food atmosphere, using description and personal opinion to deliver really informative evaluation of a particular restaurant. Well done!’

Highly Commended

Polly Waddington ‘Christmas Market Classics: All the tastiest treats to try this Christmas’
Our judge said: ‘I could see this piece in any Christmas magazine!’

Emily Pledge: ‘A feeling only describable as home: A culinary trip down memory lane’
Our judge said: ‘So full of heart! You draw on so much material from your own life. This is exactly how I started as a journalist – knowing that I was different from where I grew up and wanting to share that with the world. Really moving.’

Ben Parsons-Jones ‘The Packhorse Inn: Restaurant Review’
Our judge said: ‘This really captures the atmosphere of the food and the family running the inn. For me, how people end up somewhere is the most fascinating journalism. I wanted to know more – perhaps your next piece should be a profile of the Paolo family and their journey from Greece to Somerset?’ 

Years 10 -13

Winner (and overall winner of the 2022 Journalism Competition)

Orla Rostom ‘Do we overlook the importance of the Oceans when Talking about Climate Change?
Our judge said: ‘You’ve chosen a powerful, extremely relevant global topic. Your piece is packed with important facts, explanation and context. You made this huge topic relevant to individuals - great journalism!’

Runners up

Filip Kanzurovski: ‘Canada Day, 2021’
Our judge said: ‘Such an interesting global topic - colonialism and indigenous populations. This has huge resonance in many parts of the globe. Great fact-based reporting, detail, description – a brave, important piece!’

Ritvij Roy ‘La Xavinieta: The tactical masterclass bringing Barcelona to the top’ 
Our judge said: ‘Seriously impressive writing! As a piece of journalism this is a) important, financially, culturally and of huge interest to millions of fans; b) packed with information on the club, players, managers and the vagaries of buying and transferring players; c) clearly written and focused with a clear audience in mind but not so specialist that any interested reader couldn’t enjoy it. A brilliant article!’

Highly Commended

Ed Goodwin: ‘CE Sabadell: The Spanish Side with a Bristolian Backing’ 
Our judge said: ‘I love this! An original subject that is both global and local at the same time. I’d have loved to hear more from the fans! A really well written human interest piece!’

Emma Hocking: ‘The Lost Music of Ancient Rome’
Our judge said: ‘I learned something totally new and unexpected, which is exactly what journalism if for! Clearly written, engaging and descriptive!

Josh Stokes and Theo Aldridge Stone: ‘Has America Earned its Stripes?’
Our judge said: ‘A very ambitious topic in an engaging, interesting debate format. Really well-argued points. As an American AND Brit, I enjoyed this rousing, robust piece very much!’

Year 7-9 Winner: Indira Pandit, Year 9 

Does Spelt Food Spell Disaster?  A Reflection on Living With my Mother, by Indira Pandit 

I am a deprived child.  

Hardly ever exposed to the enticing world of processed meals, I live in a fairy-tale kingdom of whole-meal, healthy food. The Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Sourdough Bloomer has been mercilessly pushed aside in favour of my mother’s spelt, seeded loaf. The Co-op’s Irresistible Wood-Fired Margherita Pizza trails in the long, dark shadow cast by my mother’s own spelt pizza. My mother is a wizard, waving her spelt wand over these puny, white flour baked goods. It is a hunt: each loaf of bread, each piece of cake, each French pastry hiding in fear from the inevitable truth that she will find them. She will change them. She will make them brown. 

Cinnamon rolls are our Sunday tradition. Sometimes made fresh that morning so that the aroma of baking dough slips under my door, waking me up or sometimes retrieved from the icy depths of our freezer the night before. The bread is soft like clouds, your teeth sinking through it like taking your first step in fresh snow. The filling is silky and slightly caramelised in places, the sweetness waltzing with your tastebuds as you eagerly lean forward for another bite. This roll is not only our Sunday tradition: it is renowned within our family. It is praised like a god. It is required like oxygen. It is desired like world peace.  

So I implore you, if you are ever given the rare opportunity to sample such a wonderous substance please do accept.  

Ignore its brown exterior. Ignore its lack of sugar. Just take a bite. 

My mother does not only champion the art of patisserie. Goodness me, no. She doesn’t stop there. This marathon runner of spelt baking just keeps going. Her destination: pizza. I'm sure you’ve made pizza before. White flour and Tesco’s pizza sauce. Sound familiar?  

Well not in this house.  

Spelt flour and homemade slow-roasted tomatoes, cooked with rosemary and blended after 2 hours in the oven, for me. So, every Friday, the mozzarella exits the fridge, the bowl of dough is left to prove and the cherry tomatoes make their way into the oven. In the evening, our two orders are ready. Margherita with olives for me and margherita with olives and capers for my mother. We both impatiently take our first bite, exclaiming that this pizza was the best one yet. The sweetness of the tomato sauce makes my mouth water and the crispiness of the mozzarella is like stepping on dry leaves in Autumn. When I move out to go to university, I know that this is the food I will miss the most.  

This is the taste of home.   

The bread is where the standard slips, for me. I do not blame my mother for this at all. In fact, I have witnessed many friends and family members eat her bread and even compliment my mother for her expertise. So no, I do not blame my mother. I blame my unconditional love for white bread. I have been denied the basic joys of eating shop-bought, white bread ever since I was very young. We seldom buy bread and when we do, it is browner than dark chocolate and more seeded than a farmer’s field. I have tried many times to confront my mother about this, but the answer is invariably ‘When you look at the nutrition...’ I have accepted my fate and will not fight a losing battle any longer. 
However, I do think that there is a place in the universe for the spelt flour community. It is healthy and can be delicious, if it is mixed with a little skill, determination and effort. Throw away your prejudices. Stop with that negativity. Chuck out those exacting food requirements. 

For goodness’ sake, just try it. 

Years 10-13 Winner and Overall Winner: Orla Rostom, Year 11 

Do We Overlook the Importance of the Oceans when Talking About Climate Change? 

The ocean is the largest carbon sink in the world but until recently it was rarely discussed in the media when talking about the pressing issue of climate change. This is surprising as coastal plants alone can store up to 20 times more carbon than forests on land. In fact, 93% of all the world’s Carbon Dioxide emissions are stored in the oceans by marine vegetation, algae and corals. The loss of just 1% of this ecosystem was equivalent to releasing the emissions of 97 million cars. So, why is the ocean always overlooked, despite its colossal size? 

How does the ocean slow the effects of climate change? 

Fish help to balance the carbon system by swimming through the water column, creating a powerful down-welling of the warmer surface waters, causing mixing with the colder waters below. Experts have said the decimation of marine life may be interfering with this process and contributing to the warming sea temperatures. Just last summer, a weeklong heat wave was estimated to kill more than 1 billion marine animals along Canada’s Pacific coast, highlighting the vulnerability of ecosystems unaccustomed to extreme temperatures. This mixing of the water can also provide nutrients to plants at the water’s surface, which absorb carbon. 

The most shocking and damaging of our effects on the sea is bottom trawling - the most destructive form of fishing. Large nets are dragged along the ocean floor, capturing many fish in one go, almost like a humpback whale does. Whilst this process is more efficient, it is very damaging to the ecosystems. The largest trawl nets are so big that they could swallow whole cathedrals or up to thirteen jumbo jet planes.  

The size of the nets and the nature of the fishing technique lead to a lot of bycatch - the invisible victims of the fishing industry. This is when marine life is caught while trying to catch a target species. Most dead bycatch is discarded as waste back into the sea. Some estimate that global bycatch may amount to 40% of the world's catch, totalling 63 billion pounds per year. This can be extremely detrimental to the ecosystem, as it can disrupt the food chain and lead to overpopulation as a result of extinction. Also, there is a moral question involved: should we be killing innocent animals just to throw them back into the sea? We are irreversibly destroying the seas for our benefit. 

During the process of trawling, nets are pulled along by fishing boats, dragging heavy weights at the bottom, destroying the seafloor and leaving nothing behind. It has been compared to bulldozing the Amazonian rainforest, except the consequences are much worse… Every year, approximately 25 million acres of forests are lost around the world, which is equivalent to 27 football fields per minute. Bottom trawling wipes out an estimated 3.9 billion acres of ecosystems every year, which is equivalent to losing 4,316 football fields every minute. Over a year, it is equal to wiping out the land area of Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Turkey, Iran, Thailand, and Australia combined. This is an incomprehensible and unforgivable amount. By obliterating so much of the seafloor, we’re diminishing the sea’s ability to capture carbon as there are fewer plants and fish. 

What are environmental groups doing? 

Environmental groups such as Oceana and Greenpeace are refraining from speaking out about this issue and deliberately ignoring it, despite its importance. They instead promote “sustainable fishing”, which experts such as the founder of Sea Sheperd, Paul Watson, say is purely a marketing phrase designed to keep fish-eating supporters loyal to the companies. If they speak out against eating fish, there’s a chance that shareholders, volunteers and members who eat fish could stop supporting the company. Some would argue that by maximising their profits but promoting eating fish, they’re helping to reduce climate change as more money is available to invest in restoration and other projects. However, many experts say that misleading and misinforming the public is inexcusable, and call for the NGOs to change their guidance. For example, the diver and documentary host, Sylvia Earl, said that “there is no way eating fish can be sustainable”. Environmental groups could take a leaf out of Sea Sheperds’ book, who partner with governments around the world to assist them with the detection and capture of criminal enterprises that are in operation to engage in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing operations. 

How can I help? 

The best way to help restore our oceans is to reduce your fish consumption. Many see fish as a staple source of protein and Omega oils. However, you can achieve the recommended intake of protein by eating other foods, such as green vegetables, beans and pulses and tofu. Even if you don’t completely cut seafood out of your diet, decreasing the number of times you eat fish per week can have a substantial effect. 

Most people think of fish as lesser than pigs, cows, chickens and other land animals, and believe they’re less intelligent. This prevents them from relating to fish and caring about their habitats. However, we have more in common with fish than you might believe: fish can learn from each other, recognise other fish they've spent time with previously, know their place within fish social hierarchies, and remember complex spatial maps of their surroundings. Many people also adopt an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ attitude of ignorance when it comes to the ocean, which is ultimately damaging our planet’s future.  

So, we have a choice. We can continue to degrade the salty water that covers most of our planet or we can steward it in a way that enables it to take care of us. Without healthy oceans, our life on Earth would be severely challenged, unpleasant and perhaps impossible. The oceans are the life support system of all living beings: life on Earth can thrive without land, but it cannot exist without an ocean.