The Electric New Paper 16 Nov 07;
THESE young newshounds have just bagged the Top News Production Award at this year's Kids Witness News video documentary competition.
The report on rooftop gardens in Singapore was produced by 15-year-olds Eileen Chong, Vathsala Muthu, Sathialingam Thanabalan and Darren Ng from Jurong Secondary School.
Titled The Gardens of Eden, the documentary will represent Singapore at the regional and global levels of the competition. They were one of the few teams nominated for all the seven categories this year. They also bagged The Tune Award for their sound effects.
The environmentally conscious students picked rooftop gardens as their subject because it is new to Singapore and linked to global warming.
Eileen, the documentary's presenter, is no stranger to the limelight. She had interviewed PM Lee Hsien Loong when he visited her school earlier this year.
The interview and his visit to the school made such a good impression that PM Lee referred to it in his National Day Rally speech on how schools carve their niche by teaching less and learning more.
Film-maker Lionel Chok, 34, one of the five judges, said: 'It was impactful, well-researched. Rooftop gardens are very HDB, very Singaporean. It talks about what Singapore is doing about global warming.'
For Eileen, last week's award was even more special.
'Last year, I had won The Journalist of Tomorrow Award for presenting.
'This year I got to share it with my team, who are also my friends, and this makes me very happy.'
Megha Gupta, newsroom intern
Other winners
1. The Spotlight Award for Best Education Content
Pei Hwa Secondary School with 'The green journey without end'
2. The Clipper Award for Best Editing
Regent Secondary School with 'Are mozzies dominating?'
3. The Journalist of Tomorrow Award for Best Presenter
Michelle Tan from Compassvale Secondary School
4. The Young Film Maker Award for most promise as a filmmaker
Tan Ming Jie from Anderson Primary School
5. Best Facilitator Award for leadership and motivation to students
Mr Eugene Beh from Bedok North Secondary School
