Another great reminder that audience has to come first for writers

Just finished judging nearly 100 news stories published by high school students during the last half of 2025 (I know... these contests have a bit of a lag). They came from coast to coast and my task was to simply choose the top ten, in order. No comments required and that is great for me.

Took me about three hours or so and I get paid $100... so drinks are on me!

The top entries were quite good, with tightly focused ledes and abundant local sources and clear attempts to draw high school readers into the reporting. The topics ranged from last summer's flash flood tragedy in Texas to giving readers a timeline of events and local connections with the Evergreen HS shooting (our latest in Colorado). There was some nice coverage of No Kings protests with photos and local sources (and the next protest will be in eight days, so media programs can send out reporting teams again). 

But the majority of the entries had basically "lost the thread," in my view. It's not that covering the latest school boundary issues or budget problems or SNAP benefits being delayed in the last government shutdown are not important. But so many of these stories were just reports, filled with official pronouncements and lots of local and state officials offering defenses of whatever they have already decided. 

Lots of headlines seethed with anger that would more properly go with opinion pieces, and there were even a handful of sports stories in the mix -- obviously entered in the wrong category.

"The thread" is that student media has to maintain a focus on student readers, and I found myself wading through many very long and intensely researched online articles that likely drew tens of readers, if that. Of course sophomore males should be paying attention to the detailed budget options the school board has to analyze and choose from, but don't we live in the real world?

I was struck by the fact that among those 99 entries, only a handful took readers to a timely news event on the campus. I thought there might be breaking news about a drill or a power outage or a security breach of some sort. I thought there might be news about a decision by the student council or a staff member resigning due to a health issue in the middle of a term. 

Those are not earth-shattering events, of course, but those are the local news events that only student media will cover... if they choose to do so.

Or student media can get caught up in the national scandals and debates and culture wars.

Professional media is doing so well covering those now that precisely nothing seems to change. And many citizens have thrown up their hands in confusion and disgust. Lots of average humans don't know what or whom to believe.

Tough times in the news biz. Tough times for student journalists caught up in the torrent of national and world news in their TikTok feeds.