After the incredible success at the Shine Student Media Awards, in a moment of indulgence Mr McDermott gives his unbiased view
The grand Stationers’ Hall always makes me think of Hogwart’s. It’s big for start. Colossal in fact. Grand tables stretch lazily from one end to other as hundreds of excited students, in a menagerie of uniform colours, flock on long benches chattering happily. Ancient oak beams stretch languidly and ornately to swirls of plaster decoration and everywhere you look there are priceless century old works of art, in oil paints, gold and silver. But it’s the windows that make this cathedral of printing. Taller than T block and shining with multitudinous hues, they stand, pictorial giants, telling the story of the Stationers on all four walls. And we were there. Four students year 8 to 13 and myself.
The schools taking part read like a Times guide to esteemed educational establishments: Dollar Academy, City of London School, Manchester Grammar, Durham School, St George’s School for Girls, Dartford Grammar School and your very own, humble, KTS.
It had been a fantastic morning with an array of workshops and talks by the very best in the business. Bill Bowkett, Callum Macleod, Vicky Lam and Mots Odumade had impressed numerous professionals with their insight and enthusiasm. At this point I had no idea how much they’d charmed everyone at Shine.
The awards ceremony was perhaps my best hour in teaching – aside from analysing the poem 'Tissue' with 10YB1. I had a strong suspicion Bill Bowkett would win Most Outstanding Pupil – so it was not a huge surprise when we got to cheer him up to collect his gong. Bill’s only mistake all year was not getting picture editor Sasha Mills to take his picture for the award. Bill’s likeness looked like it was taken for a police line-up of suspects. As I snaffled ‘Most Inspirational Teacher’, I realised that I’d beaten Bill to worst picture award. Then the whole experience became surreal, particularly in the incredible 30 degree plus heat. The whole team scampered up as we won ‘Best Home Page’ – incredible, three gongs. Then ‘Best Online’... we had won this in 2016, surely it was another school’s turn! But no, Knights Templar School was read out for a fourth time that day. We were the only school to sit with four awards on our table. However, we were not finished as Sasha Mills awarded ‘Most Promising Photographer’.
I’m so proud of all the members. Sasha could definitely be a professional photographer if she chose that career, her work is stunning. I feel that in Callum Macleod, we have a future star.
However, the top student for 2017 is Bill Bowkett. He is a leader and a consummate journalist. The prizes for best online, best homepage and, logically, most outstanding student are down to his passion, commitment and flair. If he doesn’t end up as Prime Minister, he will edit The Times.
The History Boys and Girls
So how, I hear you cry, did we do so well? First and foremost, it’s the current team. The NewsKnight and Newscast teams have worked so hard for these awards. For Newscast, Joe Royal and Sam Collins have been members since Year 7 and are integral in its evolution.
Everyone who has contributed to both websites have a share in this success. In 2011 we founded KTS Newscast after enjoying taking part in BBC School Report. Ben Crocker had masterminded the editing and became the Newscast film guru. Luckily, we also had a young journalist called Joel Speed who had some great ideas. Joel proved to be a revelation and became NC’s first editor-in-chief. His early 3D animated title sequence was pure genius and well worth viewing again. Joel was a real leader who developed and shaped Newscast; it still retains his format. Newscast became a production line for brilliant presenters and journalists. Rachel Warman and Chloe Newton’s Halloween editions were legendary, and Rachel Christie a brilliant addition to the team. Amy Wooten and Charlie Chalkley followed them as another stella combination. We even had a sense of humour as Robin Hutchinson, Janvi Bhalla and Amy McCarthy proved with our April Fools’ special. Polly Pritchard and Jessica Fairey revitalised Newscast’s editing and brought it up to date. Often pupils would arrive and produce an incredible story like Jake Hayes and Will Budd’s unusual adventure. The lasting legacy of Newscast is to provide a history of the school and its pupils and staff.
NewsKnight ran with Newscast, first as a magazine and then as a website. Bill Bowkett took up the reins of designer when it went online. He proved himself to be an outstanding designer with the creation of the first KTS NewsKnight site. If this wasn’t enough, Bill also took on the role of commissioning editor and led meetings. It felt like I’d recruited an online editor from London’s media community. We were also lucky enough to land Ben Buky and Rowan Gray to bolster our team.
After winning Best Online for Shine in 2016, I strongly advised Bill and the team against a major redesign of the website. They totally ignored my sage words and produced an entirely new website. The whole project must have taken countless hours and we launched despite my continued affection for the old site.
No doubt, as Bill picked up the fifth award at Shine he probably thought something like, That Mr McDermott knows nothing! And how right he’d be.