Winners of the 2018 BPM Student Challenge
The 2018 BPM Student Challenge was judged late last year with 1st and 2nd place both going to students from the same school – Cashmere High!
The subject was Why is public media important for New Zealand? and contestants submitted essays, videos and even a song.
Jasper Sutcliffe, Year 11 won 1st prize of $1000 with an excellent v-log style video about public media. In the 6 minute video, Jasper takes a quirky look at media trustworthiness, bias and commercial influence.
The judges agreed that Jasper produced an interesting video, made with confidence and verve.
Bravo Jasper. We expect to see you presenting current affairs programmes and videos in years to come!
And because of Jasper’s win, Cashmere High School Media Department wins a prize of $500 as well.
2nd prize went to Azaria Howell for her essay - Public media: The beating heart of our society.
This impressive young woman has already written for The Spinoff, submitted to Christchurch City Council Draft Annual Plan and led her own online petition (for swimmable rivers).
Azaria's essay is brilliant, with our three judges saying "Azaria wrote a strong-felt and convincing essay, paying particular attention to the needs of New Zealand's diverse population".
She wins $500. Congratulations and well-done.
The judges also commended another entry by Natalie Hutton which put a unique twist on the competition. Natalie entered a song that she wrote and performed called ‘NZ’ about public media. Incredible!
A big thank you to all the students who entered the competition and we hope it got everyone thinking about public media and its importance in New Zealand.
This Year
The 2019 BPM Student Challenge will be announced soon. The exciting news is that it will be expanded to include tertiary students with more prizes and a new subject/question about public media.
So get your thinking caps on now, keep your eye on this page for more info and become a member or supporter of Better Public Media to receive updates on the competition.