GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR THE 2024 RSPC

GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR THE SELECTION OF WINNERS IN THE DIFFERENT  INDIVIDUAL WRITING CONTESTS

The competition in the Individual Writing Contest is designed to showcase the competencies of campus journalists, demonstrate their holistic journalistic skills and proficiency through media exposure, immersion and press conferences, and promote free and responsible journalism.  

Only learners from schools with school paper (print or PDF copy), both in English and Filipino for the school year and who won the top three (3) spots in each category are allowed to compete in the various individual contests of the RSPC. 

The following will be strictly implemented and complied with:

A. General:

1.     To facilitate proper identification, the participants are required to wear their school uniform with their valid school ID/RSPC IDs especially during the contest proper, except TV and Radio Script Writing and Broadcasting contestants.

2.     Should there be questions and assistance needed, the participants can only raise their concerns to the assigned proctor and/or examiner. The proctor shall refer them to the Regional TWG for appropriate response. 

3.     Contestants should not put any identifying mark on the contest entry or answer sheet.

4.     School paper advisers, teachers, principals, parents or guardians who will be found in and around the contest venue will be grounds for disqualification of their contestants. 

5.     The top five winners per medium shall be recognized and their points will be included in the computation of the overall scores (combined scores of Individual and Group Contests). 

6.     Any violation of the stipulated guidelines will be grounds for disqualification of the participant.

7.     The decision of the Board of Judges in all aspects of the contest shall be deemed final and irrevocable.

B. Specific:

1.     All individual writing contest except photojournalism shall undergo two (2) rounds of assessments. The average of the two outputs shall be the basis for determining the top 5 winners. Contestants who failed to complete the 2 sets of outputs will not be included in the determination of the top 5 winners.

2.     News Writing, Feature Writing, Editorial Writing, Science and Technology Writing and Column Writing shall use the fact sheets or other sources of information as bases in writing the article.

3.     Sports Writing: 

a.      The Official Speaker/Judge  shall orient and provide final instructions to the contestants before the contest proper. 

b.      A pre-game conference shall be conducted for the introduction of the players, coaches, and tournament officials. 

c.      Contestants shall watch an actual game where they can gather adequate data. 

d.      A post-game conference shall be held to further interview officials and athletes after the game. 

4.     Copyreading & Headline Writing: 

a.      RTWG shall bring their own pencil no. 2.

b.      The contestants shall follow directions given in the contest piece. 

c.      The contestants shall provide a headline for the article.

5.     Editorial Cartooning: 

a.      Contestants shall bring their own pencil No. 2.

b.      The cartoon must be anchored on the given topic or issue.

c.      The cartoon should be, at all times, compliant with the professional and ethical standards of media. 

6.     Photojournalism

a.      Preparation: 

1)     All contestants shall bring and submit laptop for checking a day before the contest. These will be duly checked, sealed, and secured in front of the participants.

2)     Contestants should be at the contest venue thirty (30) minutes before the orientation.

3)     The contestants are allowed to use any Digital Camera  with a maximum of 24.3 megapixels. Contestants who will use any DSLR and other high-end cameras will not be permitted to join the contest. 

4)     The contestant should bring his/her own camera cable, card reader, and memory card for uploading and saving of pictures.

5)     Cellular phones, extra digital cameras, extra storage card or any additional materials/equipment are not allowed in the contest area.

6)     The contestant shall use a laptop in uploading his/her outputs.

7)     Contestants shall also bring their own black ballpen for the captioning.

b.      Provision for Memory Card:

1)     The contestants shall load the empty storage card in front of the examiner on the contest day.

c.      Photo Shoot, Uploading and Captioning

1)     Participants will be asked to produce three (3) possible photos with caption for the article given to them. 

2)     Contestants are given one (1) hour to take pictures, which does not include the loading and unloading of the storage card in front of the examiner.

3)     During the actual photo shoot, the advisers, trainers, and parents are NOT allowed in the venue.

4)      Contestants are allowed to take unlimited shots but will submit the control shot and the five (5) photos with caption related to the given theme. The submitted photos of each contestant shall be saved in one folder (file naming convention of the folder: CODE NUMBER_2024NSPC).

5)      Contestants shall write the file name of each photo in the caption sheet.

6)      Caption sheets will be provided by the NTWG.

7)      Contestants shall be given 30 minutes to provide a caption for each of the five photos.

8)      The advisers, trainers, and parents are NOT allowed in the contest venue throughout the duration of the competition.

GUIDELINES FOR RADIO SCRIPT WRITING & BROADCASTING CONTEST

A.   General Guidelines

1.   Each division shall organize a team of seven (7) members for English and Filipino in elementary level and secondary level who shall not be competing in any of the individual writing categories. 

2.   To facilitate proper identification, the participants shall wear white shirt with their valid school ID/RSPC Official ID PASS.

3.   An orientation shall be conducted for all the contestants. Any representative from each group will draw lots to determine the order of presentation. 

4.   In getting the overall results for best radio production, accumulated points from the individual and group awards shall be considered. 

5..  Mobile phones, reference materials, and other extra sheets of paper shall not be allowed in the contest area. 

6.   All teams shall test the compatibility of their laptop/device with the available device/s in the designated simulation area on May 1, 2024.

7.               The decision of the Board of Judges is final and irrevocable.

8.   Any violation of the stipulated guidelines will be grounds for disqualification of the team.

B.Scriptwriting

1.   Each team may use up to four (4) official laptops that are cleared of stored documents, and an inkjet printer in preparing and printing of the script. All laptops should be submitted to the contest committee for inspection on May 1, 2024, 8:00AM-5:00PM. Each team is required to bring their own extension wires and other equipment for rehearsal.

2.   The team will be given one (1) hour and 30 minutes to write a script for a five-minute radio broadcast. It includes one (1) infomercial and four (4) news articles. 

a. The infomercial may cover health, environment, politics, social, and other relevant issues. It shall have a maximum length of one (1) minute and shall use the medium that the group is competing in. 

b. The news articles may be based on press releases, raw data, or any other source given by the examiner/s.

c. Another 30 minutes will be allotted for the printing of the output. After two (2) hours, each team should submit four (4) copies of the script. Three (3) copies will be submitted to the judges and one (1) copy will be submitted to the examiner/s. The team may print extra copies for their own use. 

3.   Once the script writing has commenced, the contestants will no longer be allowed to leave the contest rooms. For personal necessities, the proctor shall accompany them to the restrooms. 

4.   The script should not bear any information that may identify the school, division, but it should include the names of the members of the team with their respective roles (i.e., anchor, news presenter, etc.).

5.   The board of judges shall provide the uniform name of radio station, program title, and kilo hertz. 

6.   Scripts should be encoded using Arial font size 12 with directorial instructions in capital letters double-spaced with normal margin (1inch on all sides) printed in A4-sized bond paper (8.27x11.69 inches)

C.             Broadcast Simulation

1.   A broadcast room for the presentation shall be identified in the contest venue. Only the contestants, judges, and the examiner/s shall be allowed inside. 

2.   The organizers/host region shall commission an independent sound system provider to ensure quality audio output. The technical operator shall only set the sound system before the simulation. A jack/auxiliary cord/adapter will be provided for the laptops and other sources of sound effects. 

3.   Except for the volume meter, contestants/technical director shall not be allowed to change, adjust, and manipulate the main control board during their presentation. 

4.   In case of power failure, the affected team shall be allowed to broadcast again.

5.   Sound bites/pre-recorded voice shall be prohibited. 

6.   At least two loudspeakers may be set up outside the broadcast room.

7.   The host division shall provide the radio frequency where the broadcast simulation will be tuned in. 

8.   A separate holding area designated for each role shall be provided.

9.   Each team shall be given nine (9) minutes: three (3) minutes for preparation, five (5) minutes for the actual broadcast, and one (1) minute for exit. Provided running time shall be applied. 

10. The organizers shall provide a clock or a timer that can be seen by the contestants and the judges. There will be an official timekeeper. 

11. A yellow flaglet shall be raised to signal the team that they have one (1) minute left for preparation. A green flaglet shall then be raised to signal the team to start. A yellow flaglet shall be raised again to warn the team that they only have one (1) minute remaining followed by a red flaglet to indicate that their time is up.

12. The team who complied with the five-minute production shall be given a perfect score (5 points). In case of overtime or undertime, the following scheme of deductions shall be followed: 

Undertime/Overtime

1 second – 3 seconds – 1 point 

4 seconds -20seconds – 2 points

21 seconds – 40 seconds – 3 points

41 seconds – 60 seconds – 4 points

61 seconds and above -  5 points

13. The undertime or overtime shall be deducted from the final average score. 

GUIDELINES FOR THE COLLABORATIVE DESKTOP PUBLISHING CONTEST

1. Each division shall organize a team of seven (7) members for English and Filipino both in elementary level and secondary level who shall not be competing in any of the individual writing categories.

2. Contestants shall wear white shirt with identification cards.

3. All contestants are required to attend the orientation before the competition.

4. All contestants are not allowed to go back to their quarters nor communicate in all forms (text, call, chat, etc.) with their respective advisers from the start until the end of the contest.

5. A mini press conference and a sports event shall be held as bases for the content of the publication (i.e., news, features, editorial, editorial cartoon, sports). The photojournalists shall take pictures of the mini press conference and sports event.

6. For the actual sports event, a pre-game conference shall be conducted for the introduction of the players, coaches, and tournament officials. Consequently, a post conference shall be held for interview and data gathering.

7. The team will be given one (1) hour for data gathering and four (4) hours for writing, layout, and editing.

8. Each team is allowed to bring only the following:

● two (2) digital/DSLR cameras

● one (1) inkjet printer with scanner

● one (1) card reader

● one (1) blank flash drive

● extension wires

● maximum of four (4) laptops installed with either PAGEMAKER or IN DESIGN and Photoshop (for the secondary level) and Microsoft Publisher (for the elementary level) for the layout of the group’s final output

● A4 size bond paper

9. Laptops to be submitted to the RTWG shall be labeled with the following

format:

Category – Medium-Level_Region Name, School, Division

e.g.,

Collaborative Desktop Publishing – English – Secondary – Region II-Cagayan

Angelina Fajardo, Calayan National High School, Cagayan

Labels shall be in a bond paper pasted on/attached to the laptop bag.

10.Official laptops, previously cleared of stored documents, shall be submitted to the RTWG on May 1, 2024 (up to 5PM only) to check for any other applications and pre-written documents or references therein. Failure to submit the laptops on/before the set deadline shall mean disqualification of the competing team.

11.The division team shall provide their own scanners.

12.Mobile phones and other electronic gadgets shall not be allowed except for digital cameras/DSLRs and laptops with disabled internet connection.

13.Each team will be required to convert their output into PDF, print in A4 size bond paper, and submit it to the examiner/s. The collaborative desktop publishing team shall submit both hard and soft copies of their entries. They should ensure that no identifying marks about their school, division, or region can be found on their output as it would be a ground for disqualification.

14.The output of the contest is an A4-size four-page full-colored publication. The output will be stored in a flash drive provided by the examiner/s and uploaded to the designated computer for judging.

15.The top five (5) teams shall be recognized and their points will be included in the determination of the overall scores.

16.The decision of the Board of Judges is final and irrevocable.

GUIDELINES FOR THE ONLINE PUBLISHING CONTEST

1.           Each division all organize a team of five (5) members for English and five (5)  members for Filipino in Secondary level who shall not be competing in any of the individual writing categories.

2. Contestants may wear their school uniform or plain white t-shirt with their identification cards.

3. All contestants are required to attend the one-hour orientation before the competition.

4. All contestants are not allowed to go back to their quarters nor communicate

in all forms (text, call, chat, etc.) with their respective advisers from the start

until the end of the contest.

5. A mini press conference and a sports event shall be held as bases for the content of the publication (i.e., news, features, editorial, editorial cartoon, sports). The photojournalists shall take pictures/videos of the mini press conference and sports event.

6. For the actual sports event, a pre-game conference shall be conducted for the introduction of the players, coaches, and tournament officials. Consequently, a post conference shall be held for interview and data gathering.

7. The team will be given three (3) hours for writing, layout, and editing of articles onlin after the creation of an online publication using the official platform to be provided by the organizer. Coverage/Data gathering through mini press conference, pre-game, actual game and post conference shall be excluded from the 3-hour time allotment.

8. Specific instructions on the number of articles to be produced will be given during the orientation.

9. Each team will be required to bring only the following:

● one scanner -flatbed scanner/3-1 printer (mobile/phone scanner is NOT allowed)

● two (2) digital/DSLR cameras

● maximum of 4 laptops installed with Photoshop for image enhancement

● maximum of 2 pocket wifis (preferably with two different networks) or 1 wireless router

● extension cord

10.Laptops to be submitted to the RTWG shall be labeled with the following

format:

Category – Medium-Level_Region Name, School, Division

e.g. Online Publishing – English – Secondary – Region X

Angelina Villanueva, Calayan National High School, Cagayan

Labels shall be in a bond paper pasted on/attached to the laptop bag.

11.Official laptops, previously cleared of stored documents, shall be submitted to the RTWG on May 1, 2024 (up to 5PM only) to check for any other applications and pre-written documents or references. Failure to submit the laptops on/before the set deadline shall mean disqualification of the competing team.

12.Each group shall email their URL to the assigned examiner.

13.The top five (5) teams shall be recognized and the points will be included in the determination of the overall standing. All competing teams shall be given points and ranked accordingly).

14.The decision of the Board of Judges is final and irrevocable.

Enclosure No. ___ to Regional Memo No. _______, s. 2024

GUIDELINES FOR TV SCRIPT WRITING AND BROADCASTING

The competition is designed to encourage teamwork among campus

journalists and simulate the workplace of a television news production department.

A. General Guidelines

1. Each division shall organize a team of seven (7) members for English and seven (7) members for Filipino in Secondary level who shall not be competing in any of the individual writing categories.

2. The members should have the following roles/tasks, but not limited to:

a. scriptwriter/s

b. anchor/s

c. reporter/s

d. producer/director who could also act as floor director

e. video/graphics editor

f. video journalist/camera man

Any of the team members can assume two or more positions/tasks, as long as this would not be conflicting or awkward in relation to the outcome of the broadcast (example: an anchor can’t be a reporter at the same time. But an anchor can also be a news or infomercial writer).

2. The RTWG in coordination with the host region shall provide the list of available equipment and tools in the mock broadcast room with the regional coordinators a week before the contest through an advisory.

3. A thirty (30) minutes technical orientation will be held day or days before the opening of the RSPC for the directors and video/graphics editors. Then, each team will be given thirty (30) minutes per medium to visit the mock broadcast room for familiarization.

5. In getting the overall results for the best TV broadcast, accumulated points from the individual and group awards shall be considered.

6. Below are the awards to be given:

Individual Awards

1. Best TV Anchor

2. Best TV Reporter

3. Best Director

Group Awards

1. Best in Technical Application

2. Best Developmental Communication

3. Best News Script

4. Best TV Newscast

8. The decision of the Board of Judges is final and irrevocable.

8. Any violation of the stipulated guidelines will be grounds for disqualification of the team.

PRE-CONTEST

1. Each team will be required to bring only the following:

● maximum of 4 laptops with at least 10GB free space and a video editing program (with uploading capacity)

● 3 empty USB Flash Drives (at least 16GB minimum)

● maximum of 2 video/DSLR camera/mobile phones (without sim and

        emptied internal storage) compatible with the laptop

● two (2) emptied memory cards

● A4-size bond paper

● one (1) inkjet printer

● extension cord/s

2. Laptops and flash drives to be submitted to the RTWG shall be labeled with

the following format:

Category – Medium – Level – Division, Director’s Name, School, Division

e.g.,

TV Script Writing and Broadcasting – English – Secondary – Isabela

       Angelina Fajardo, Cabatuan National High School, Isabela

Labels for laptops shall be in a bond paper attached to the laptop bag.

Flash drives shall be sealed in an envelope with a label.

4.           Checking and sealing of laptops shall be done on Day 0 (until 5 p.m. only). Laptops shall be clear of stored documents upon submission except for the pre-recorded OBB and CBB and offline editing software.

4. Failure to submit the laptops on/before the set deadline shall mean disqualification of the competing team.

5. Only the equipment and tools in the mock broadcast room are allowed to be used by the participants during the actual presentation.

6. Before the start of the contest, the teams will be oriented on the roles of the participants and criteria for judging by the chairman of the board of judges.

All participants should attend this orientation.

7. The directors will draw lots to determine the order of presentation. Then,

contest materials saved in flash drives sealed in envelopes shall be distributed

to the directors.

CONTEST PROPER:

A. SCRIPTWRITING AND PRODUCTION

1. The team shall have the following components in their script:

a. Cover page: This shall contain the group's name (mock TV network name)

b. News: Only the five (5) sets of data provided by the RTWG will be used in the news reports. Each news script should indicate the corresponding video and/or audio component taken from the folders or produced during the actual contest.

c. Infomercial/Developmental Communication: The team is required to produce one (1) infomercial or developmental communication plug with a maximum length of 60 seconds.

The RTWG will provide two (2) sets of data (photos/videos/audio) in

folders saved in a flash drive.

However, each team is also allowed to take footage/s within the

designated area to be used in the infomercial.

The script should contain video and audio components.

d. Field Report: A live field report with or without canned video support shall be included in the production.

e.Headlines: These will contain a brief lead/summary of the news articles.

f. OBB/CBB: For uniformity, the RTWG shall provide station and

program names to be used through an office memorandum a month

before the actual conduct of the RSPC.

3. Four (4) hours will be allotted for the pre-production (story conference and scriptwriting), actual production (video shooting/recording, infomercial production), post-production (editing) and rehearsal.

4. The host region shall provide a clock or a timer that can be seen by both the  contestants and RTWG. There will be an official timekeeper.

5. Once the scriptwriting has commenced, the contestants will no longer be allowed to leave the contest venue. For personal necessities, the proctor shall accompany them to the nearest restrooms.

6. Each team shall submit four (4) copies of the script: three (3) copies for the judges and one (1) copy for the RTWG. The team may print extra copies for their own use.

6. The cover page of the script shall contain the TV Network and Program names

(as provided by the RTWG), order of presentation (to be placed at the upper left of the cover) and the names of the members of the team with their respective roles (i.e., anchor, field reporter, etc.).

7. The script shall not bear any information that may identify the school, division, or region.

8. All groups shall stop working after the allotted time of 4 hours. A buzzer shall signal the end of the scriptwriting and production time.

9. A separate holding area designated for each role shall be provided.

10.Members shall only be allowed to go out of the room when it is time for their team to perform and for personal necessities accompanied by a proctor.

B. TV BROADCAST SKILLS PERFORMANCE

1. Only two (2) laptops are allowed inside the studio: one (1) as a substitute for teleprompter and one (1) for the technical application.

2. News shall be composed of live and edited reports, which were produced

during the given production time. Only the OBB/CBB and stingers/audio bed

are pre-recorded/pre-produced.

Video and Audio Playback to be used for the live reports are either taken from

the folders or produced on the day of the contest.

3. Other than the actual broadcast time, ten (10) minutes shall be allotted for entrance and preparation.

4. Each team shall be given ten (10) minutes of preparation with the assistance

of the technical experts (service providers). Three warnings shall be given to

each team who fails to start after the allotted time for preparation provided no

technical issue arises:

First warning – 1 minute

Second warning – 1 minute and 30 seconds

Third/final warning – 2 minutes

After the third warning and the team fails to start, disqualification will be

imposed.

5.Each team shall be given six (6) minutes for the actual broadcast.

6. A clock or digital timer will be provided by the host division to guide the contestants and RTWG.

The timekeeper shall raise the green flaglet to signal the start of the

presentation.

A yellow flaglet shall be raised by the timekeeper to warn the presenting team

that only one minute is left of the broadcast time.

A red flaglet shall be raised to signal that the six minutes allotted for the

group has been consumed.

7. In case of overtime/undertime in the prescribed duration of the broadcast, the

following points shall be deducted from the points earned in the criterion

adherence to time allotment (5%).

1 second - 3 seconds - 1 point

4 seconds – 30 seconds – 2 points

31 seconds - 60 seconds - 3 points

61 seconds - 90 seconds - 4 points

91 seconds - 120 seconds - 5 points

8. The timekeeper shall give the judges a copy of the record of the broadcast running time of each group right after the performance. The record should indicate how many seconds/minutes each group went over/under time if they did. The timekeeper shall also announce the time started, time finished, incurred undertime/overtime and the corresponding deductions of the group.

9.Three (3) minutes shall be allotted for the exit.

10.The decision of the Board of Judges is FINAL and IRREVOCABLE.