Awarded for excellence: with her idea Last year, the Maria-Ward-Realschule Mindelheim took first place in the Blattmacher, the large Bavarian school newspaper competition Suddeutscher Zeitung and Ministry of Education. Now part of the prize money has been redeemed: a workshop for the editors – on a fairly complex topic. Leonie, tenth grade, Luca, eighth, and tutor Florian Schomanek explain what good journalism can look like for school newspapers.
SZ: Leonie, you already worked at the last year idea participated and attended the Blattmacher award ceremony in Munich’s SZ Tower. How was it?
Leonie: So great. Actually, we only do the school newspaper for fun. But I am proud that we have become the best in the Realschulen.
Like all winning schools, you received a workshop, in your case with Sebastian Beck, head of the SZ Bayern editorial team. What was it about?
Luke: The topic was “Legality and Ethics in Journalism”.
Leonie: For example, it was about when newspapers are allowed to name nationalities of suspects. Or which pictures may be published at all.
Florian Schomanek: I hardly had to say anything, the discussion was so good. I was surprised that the workshop felt like a real editorial meeting.
Luke: I was surprised at how few countries in the world where the media can report as freely as we do.
Whole doctoral theses are written about ethics in journalism. What do you take with you for everyday editorial work?
Leonie: We have decided to respond even more to all opinions. And we want to tackle critical issues.
For example?
Schomanek: We work half a school year apart. We’re just finishing the issue that’s due for the end of this school year and starting next year’s issue. The title theme is already clear: the consequences of social media. Among other things, there will be a self-experiment, one or two weeks without a cell phone – and probably digital withdrawal symptoms.
And what did you write about in the issue coming out this school year?
Luke: It’s about humans and animals. I was involved in a text about animal welfare violations and the extent to which animal husbandry is regulated by law.
Leonie: I wrote about right-wing populism.
Now that sounds pretty critical. How do you keep yourself informed about world events? About Insta and Tiktok?
Leonie: I’ve definitely been more critical since the workshop. One should always ask oneself where information comes from.
Luke: I rarely use social media to get news. If I’m specifically looking for something, I look at media like that daily News.
One consequence of your victory is that you are not allowed to participate in the Blattmacher this year so that other editorial offices have a chance of winning. How annoying is that?
Schomanek: That’s not a broken leg at all. We’ll just do it again next year – we have that much patience!
The 18th round of the leaf maker competition
The Blattmacher comes of age! This year, for the 18th time, the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the Bavarian State Ministry for Education and Culture are inviting the editors of the Bavarian school newspapers to take part in the major newspaper editors’ competition. School newspapers from elementary schools, middle schools, special needs schools, junior high schools, high schools and vocational schools in Bavaria can take part. There are also prizes for the best online school newspapers. The three best editorial departments per type of school and the three best online media receive prize money of between 200 and 500 euros from the Nemetschek Foundation.
The winners in each category belong to the “Club of the Best” and receive a special rewards program from the Nemetschek Foundation and SZ. What this reward looks like will only be revealed at the award ceremony in Munich at the end of July. Six printed copies of an issue that was published between June 16, 2022 and June 16, 2023 must be submitted. For purely online school newspapers, it is sufficient to send off the registration form. The closing date for entries is June 16, 2023. Further details on how to participate can be found at sz.de/blattmacher-competition.