Let your ideas flow

In Perak TEACHERS should not dictate what their students can write on for The Star and Pizza Hut’s Newspaper-in-Education (NiE) Mag Inc (Magazine Incorporated) contest. The teachers should let the students’ creative ideas “run wild” instead of imposing their views on their charges, said Taylor’s School of Communications lecturer Azmyl Yusof. “Never underestimate the students’ power of understanding and observation of day-to-day activities and current events as they have been exposed to the media and can come up with interesting concepts for the contest,” said Azmyl at the Mag Inc 2009 workshop at cluster school, SM Ave Maria Convent in Ipoh. Teachers should guide them and keep them on the path of their chosen topic for their feature article, based on the contest theme — teenage angst. “With an explosion of ideas, the students may tend to move away from their chosen topic, but teachers should put them back on track,” he added. Azmyl stressed that while students should allow their creative juices to flow, they should not lose sight of getting their message across. “They can come up with catchy headlines, interesting images and designs to complement their feature article,” he said. “Be careful not to lose your message amidst all the clutter,” he added. The Mag Inc contest is open to primary school (Years Four to Six) students and lower and upper secondary school students. Each participating team can comprise up to five members. Primary students stand a chance to win the grand prize of a trip to Sibu Island Resort, Johor. The grand prize winners of the upper secondary category will not only earn a trip to the resort but also win five pre-university scholarships from Taylor’s University College worth RM100,000. Grand prize winners of the lower secondary category will each get a trip to East Malaysia while runners-up teams from each category will spend three days and two nights at Genting Resort. Templates for the contest will be available on April 1 and April 22 in The Star’s NiE pullouts. Online registration for schools opens on April 1 and ends on April 30. The deadline for entry submissions is June 20. – by Ivan Loh

In Perak