Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) student Ian Wong dived under his team's workbench for a short nap during The Straits Times National Youth Media Competition, as his teammates Joel Lim, Brandon Hoong, Gaw Ban Siang, Denis Lan and Danyon Low, all 16, soldiered on.
They were among the 60 students who camped out overnight at Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) in Toa Payoh North on Tuesday night, to complete various assignments: filing breaking news, creating a news video and designing the front page of The Straits Times.
Earlier on Tuesday, they had interviewed Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong at a press conference, as well as professional cyclist Lemuel Lee.
The pressure of completing the assignments had the students, many armed with sugary snacks and wrapped up in hoodies - or in the case of a Victoria School student, a tablecloth - working furiously at their computer screens through the night. Alexander Sartin, 15, a Secondary 3 student from Seng Kang Secondary, said jokingly at the end of the competition: "I think I need to go to the emergency room for some sleep. I only slept for an hour!"
The 10 participating teams, each with six members aged between 13 to 17 years, represented a range of local and international schools. They are: Bukit View Secondary, Xinmin Secondary, Hwa Chong Institution, Nanyang Girls' High School, Seng Kang Secondary, Singapore American School, School of the Arts, Victoria School, Raffles Institution and NPS International School.
The competition was presented by first-time sponsor OCBC Bank.
Teams used digital SLR cameras provided by official imaging and technology partner Canon Singapore as well as Adobe Creative Cloud, an online software suite by official software and training partner Adobe, to design their Straits Times front page using InDesign and Photoshop software.
The winning team will get a $3,000 cash prize, Canon Pixma printers and a three-week internship in The Straits Times newsroom. The silver award is worth $2,000 and the bronze, $1,000. Besides subsidiary awards, there are also two Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 tablets up for grabs.
