The Philippine Online Chronicles

NSPC 2010 is on February 22-26, in Tagum City, Davao del Norte, with the theme “Campus Journalism as a Catalyst for Change: Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.”

According to the Department of Education (DepEd), this year's conference aims to enable the participants to demonstrate understanding of the important of MDGs by expressing it through varied journalistic forms and approaches, demonstrate commitment to support MDGs by advocating and integrating them in related school community initiatives and enhance journalistic competence through healthy and friendly competitions such as individual, group, as well as radio broadcasting and scriptwriting contests.

Print Media

The categories covered by the 2010 conference include Photojournalism (Pagkuha ng Larawang Pampahayagan), Online Writing (Pagsulat ng Balitang Pang-Online), Editorial Writing (Pagsulat ng Pangulong Tudling), Copyreading and Headline Writing (Pagwawasto at Pag-ulo), News Writing (Pagsulat ng Balita), Feature Writing (Pagsulat ng Lathalain), Sports Writing (Pagsulat ng Balitang Isports), Radio Broadcasting (Pagbrodkast sa Radyo), Editorial Cartooning (Kartung Pang-Editoryal) at Photo Layout (Paglatag ng mga Litrato).

Participants in the individual NSPC contests are chosen via a series of competitions from the municipal to the regional level for the grade school and secondary school levels, with the final roster of participants being among the top three regional winners in each of the seven writing categories (84 campus journalists per region and 84 school paper advisers per region). Participants in the radio broadcast and scriptwriting contests are also taken from the regional winners (14 participants per region and 4 advisers per region).

The group events of the NSPC are open to all elementary and secondary schools that published newspapers in SY 2009-2010. A memorandum by DepEd (Memorandum No. 160, s. 2000) originally laid out ten contests.

Elementary publications are categorized into Brackets A and B, where Bracket A is reserved for standard printed newspapers while Bracket B is for mimeographed or photocopied publications, while for the high school level, Bracket A is for broadsheets or tabloids that have been in circulation for at least five years, with at least 14 but not more than 20 pages. Bracket B, on the other hand, is for broadsheets or tabloids with 8-12 pages.

Online Writing

This year marks the second that Online Writing will be included in the NSPC. The Philippine Online Chronicles is set to host the competition.

Four participants per region are allowed for the event—two students for the English category (Elementary and High School) and two students for the Filipino category (Elementary and High School). Entrants to the online writing contest may be any contestant in the individual events.

Broadcast Media

In accordance with the Campus Journalism Act of 1991, DepEd noted in Memorandum No. 457 series of 2008, the NSPC will include among its group events the Radio Broadcast and Scriptwriting (Ulat Panradyo) contest.

Scripts are written on the spot and presented live to the audience. With the inclusion of this event in the NSPC, DepEd said it hopes to “enhance the...competence [of young journalists] and [further hone] their communication skills.”

History

The first conference was held in 1931 in Pasig. It had a different name then—founded by high school principal Ricardo Castro, the Public Secondary Schools Press Association (PSSPA) had 17 original member schools, a number which increased as more schools participated in the conference, held in different parts of Luzon.

The conference was put on hold during World War II, and after being reorganized, resumed in 1947 in Manila.

By 1955 the PSSPA, with 70 member schools, had been renamed the National Secondary Schools Press Conference and was held in Bacolod City. The event's new name brought with it other new developments: the participants were divided into Groups A and B, according to school size, for the group events. The individual events were open to all regardless of grouping.

The 1955 PSSPA had a record number of 721 delegates, which the student publication Pampangan said was “the biggest in the NSSPC history.”

In 1956, the convention was held for a longer time, allowing for longer educational tours. The next year the groupings were again rearranged, and one group was added. Group A schools had over 3,000 students, Group B schools had populations of 1,500 to 3,000, while Group C had less than 1,500 students.

The year 1991 proved vital to the NSSPC as the Campus Journalism Act was ratified. It provided that funding should never be withheld from student publications either by DepEd or school administrations, and also specified that DepEd shall conduct periodic competitions, press conferences and training seminars for the benefit of campus journalists.

According to WikiPilipinas, it wasn't until school year 1993-1994 that elementary schools were included in the conference, prompting the removal of the word “secondary” from the gathering's name. Thus, the NSPC in its current incarnation was born.