A written journalism competition in which each entrant writes a factual news story from a set of facts and is marked on form and style, content and ethics.
News Writing is a solo journalism item: each entrant is handed the raw facts of an event, such as a school announcement, a speech or an interview, and must turn them into a short, accurate news story in the inverted-pyramid style, with the most important facts first. It is a written, judged-after-the-sitting competition rather than a performance, so nothing is watched live and the papers are marked away from the entrants. In the scheme that uses it most heavily it is filed under Creative Writing and scored out of 100.
A round is a supervised writing sitting. Entrants are seated together, given the same set of facts or the same event brief, and write against the clock with no notes brought in. The story is expected to carry a headline, a lead that answers the main who, what, when, where and why questions, supporting paragraphs in descending order of importance, and attributed quotations where the brief supplies them. In the national schools circuit it runs in both English and Filipino, at Elementary (Grades 1 to 6) and Secondary (Grades 7 to 12) level, one contestant per category.
A finished entry reads like a short newspaper item: a clear headline, an effective lead of one or two sentences, a logical build-up of detail, correct spelling and grammar, and no opinion slipped into the reporting. Entrants who copy phrases from the brief wholesale, invent quotations or editorialise lose marks quickly, because the judges are looking for reporting discipline as much as fluent writing.
Organisers run News Writing because it is cheap and quick to administer for a whole age group at once, and because it rewards a skill that essay and story items do not: writing tightly and accurately to a format. It gives school journalists a competition of their own alongside Editorial, Feature and Sports Writing, and it feeds a ladder of school, district, division, regional and national rounds in the circuit that uses it most.
Where News Writing is run
The clearest use is a national school press conference in the Philippines, which runs News Writing as one of its individual contests at every level from school to national and in both English and Filipino. A second event in the data carries it as a single rated item out of ten inside a wider youth talent programme. Beyond those two, campus and school journalism contests in many countries run a news-writing category on the same inverted-pyramid footing, though the age bands, languages and time allowed vary by event.
- Philippines
Key facts
- Individual entry, open to boys and girls alike.
- Marked out of 100 in the national schools circuit: Form and Style 40, Content 50, Ethics 10.
- Runs in English and Filipino, at Elementary (Grades 1 to 6) and Secondary (Grades 7 to 12) level.
- Written in a single supervised sitting; the template sets no stage time limit.
- A second event scores the same item as a rating out of 10 instead of a 100-mark sheet.
On eTalenter, News Writing is filed under Creative Writing and typically scored with Marks, Rating out of 10. It appears in 2 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, News Writing is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100.
What judges look at in News Writing
What a News Writing panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Form and Style (40 marks): arrangement of the story, headline, lead, language, coherence and transitions. A tidy inverted pyramid with a headline that fits the story earns the marks; a chronological retelling that buries the main fact loses them.
- Content (50 marks): an effective lead, the key details, a logical presentation and proper news format. This is the largest block, so a story that gets every important fact right and in the right order outscores a prettier but vaguer one.
- Ethics (10 marks): originality, citation, journalistic standards and no plagiarism or libel. Copying from the brief word for word, inventing a quotation or naming someone unfairly costs these marks.
- Lead strength: judges read the first sentence to decide whether the writer found the angle. A lead that answers who, what, when and where wins the panel early.
- Objectivity: the story reports, it does not comment. Adjectives that sound like opinion are the commonest quiet loss of marks.
- Language accuracy: spelling, grammar and sentence length in the chosen language, whether English or Filipino.
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for News Writing under Scoring Setup, or start from the full essay & story writing judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for News Writing
How entrants and their teachers usually get News Writing right on the day:
- Practise the inverted pyramid until it is automatic: write the lead first, then order every remaining fact from most to least important.
- Drill leads. Take ten short event briefs and write only the first sentence of each, checking that who, what, when and where are all answered.
- Rehearse against the clock with unseen briefs. Aim to finish a draft with a few minutes spare for a read-through for facts, names and spellings.
- Write the headline last if you find it easier, but never skip it; keep it short, in the active voice and true to the story.
- Learn the ethics rules in plain terms: attribute quotations, never invent them, never copy the brief, and keep opinion out.
- Read real school and local newspaper stories and mark where the lead ends and the supporting detail begins.
- Practise in both languages if the event offers both, since vocabulary for news is not the same as for essays.
- After a lost round, ask for the score by block: if Content was low, you missed facts; if Form was low, you buried the lead.
Frequently asked questions
Is News Writing judged individually or as a team?
Across eTalenter's templates it's most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.
Is News Writing the same as Feature Writing?
No. News Writing reports the main facts of an event briefly and in order of importance. Feature Writing takes a human-interest angle and has more room for description and voice.
How is News Writing marked?
In the national schools circuit it is out of 100: Form and Style 40, Content 50 and Ethics 10. Another event rates it out of 10 instead.
Can entrants bring notes or write at home?
No. It is written in a single supervised sitting from a brief given on the day, so notes and prepared drafts are not part of the item.
Is it judged individually or as a team?
Individually. Each school sends one contestant per category and language.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full essay & story writing judging criteria guide, or browse every creative writing competition item.
Try News Writing in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs News Writing, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
