Mia Harper Fairgrieve / 2025-05-28
Last Saturday, I attended the first (hopefully annual) Carleton High School Journalism Awards, hosted by Carleton University. I was nominated for an award, then invited to attend the awards ceremony, and a journalism workshop they were offering. Here’s how it went!
Upon arrival, students partaking in the workshop—including myself—were shown to a space in the Carleton Journalism School where we were given an informative lecture about journalism and all of its different and interesting facets by Professor Randy Boswell.
There was discussion about what traits make a good journalist, such as being curious and observant about the world around you. Having different people with different interests working on a newspaper is a good way to get different perspectives on the troubles and triumphs of life.
Afterwards, we got to experience the true hands-on nature of the Journalism School’s teaching. After a quick crash-course in how to use Handy Recorders, we got our assignment: we would be making audio-only newscasts within groups—an amazing opportunity to collaborate and try out a new medium of journalism.
My group was assigned to the topic of e-scooters and the new regulations surrounding them. There were a couple of new things we got to try out during this time. Firstly, of course, we recorded each other with the Handy Recorder, before uploading the footage to Adobe Auditions, a program I had never used before, but was fun to try out. Secondly, we were able to record in a soundbooth, with headphones on, and microphones set up in front of us like we were on an alpha-male podcast*. (*The mindset of which I do not agree with at all.)
After the workshop, the awards ceremony began. Dinner and lots of snacks were provided, which I found very nice, and nominees were allowed to bring their families. It was a fantastic celebration of the work of the winners and runners-up. Winners of their category received Carleton swag and there was thunderous applause all around.
Even though it was a pilot event set up this year, it was amazingly organized by Nepean High School’s own Balazs Fazakas and Carleton Journalism School’s Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Supervisor Aneurin Bosley. I consider it to be an incredible opportunity and experience for any up-and-coming journalist, and I recommend submitting your own work next year!