Think... Investigate... Write... Capture... Publish... Convey.. 1

 FEE is a non-governmental and non-profit organisation promoting sustainable development through environmental education.  It is represented locally by Nature Trust (Malta)  FEE programmes: 2

FEE Programmes Locally represented by Nature Trust since 2003 EkoSkola (2002) Blue Flag (2005) YRE (2007) LEAF (2011) 3

YRE Participating Countries CanadaChinaCyprus Denmark France Greece ItalyKazakhstanLatviaMalta MoroccoNew ZealandPortugalRomania Montenegro Slovakia SpainTurkey Wales Germany Jordan Macedonia NetherlandsNorway SloveniaUSA

YRE growth in Malta 5

Local projects

International Awards

Types of Projects The article must not be longer than 1000 words and should include a title, and subtitles. Photos, graphs or drawings may be added to support the article. The photo should be of good quality. A short text (150 words max.) must explain the link between the photo and sustainable development. The video clip should not be longer than 3 mins, and feature a local investigation 8

The 3 pillars of YRE Understand Act Be positive 1. Local investigation 2 Journalistic production 3. Communication towards local audience 9

Investigation topics : Agriculture Cities Coastline Energy Climate Change Waste Water Biodiversity Any environmental topic; no particular theme needed

Two levels of activity 1.National  local topic (problem/solution)  Local investigation, interview, photos, articles…  Production  Local reporting 2. International = National + Cooperation and exchange with other schools 11

The YRE programme and the local curriculum The YRE programme provides opportunities for project work in a variety of secondary school curriculum subjects More specifically, YRE projects can be developed into the course work required by the SEC syllabus for Environmental Studies, European Studies, Geography and Biology At the post secondary level YRE can be developed into the practical project required for Systems of Knowledge, Geography (A) or Biology (A) 12

YRE incentives – International The YRE Book - an annual production of the network Publication of articles in the website Internationally recognized certificates for students Networking through YRE connect Possibility to work on joint MISSIONS Prizes given by the International board 13

14 Trophies to the national winners Individual certificates to students and teachers Publication of articles in the local press Publication in the local website A day with the press for the local winners Possibility of visits abroad meeting other young reporters YRE incentives - National

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Categories for participation : 3 age categories for competition purposes: years years years Each category will have 3 winners: 1 article,1 photo and 1 video, which will be submitted to the international competition. 19

YRE on the media 20

Monday, 7th June 2010 Overdue clean-up San Anton School students, parents and staff last Saturday removed an abandoned car that had been in Selmun for over 20 years. This was a follow-up activity to the Imġiebaħ project undertaken by the Young Reporters For The Environment group and for which the school was awarded first prize, and coincided with World Environment Day. The initiative was supported by Philip Agius and Sons Ltd which provided transportation to remove the vehicle 21

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Reporters-for-the-Environment 23

twitter.com/YREMalta 24

AWARDS 25

How to participate in the YRE programme: Register (as a school) in the YRE programme Select a topic to be investigated Choose methodology : article, photograph or video clip Inform the national coordinator Register your project online Once validated by coordinator, articles/ photos /videos are stored in the Library, and become available to the YRE community after the final selection is made. 26

Calendar Starting a project: any time during the scholastic year Ending a project: any time Submission of YRE entries: any time Submission articles or photos for YRE Awards: Deadline End of March Selection by national coordinators: 1 video clip, 1 article and 1 photo from each category : Deadline 30th April Meeting of the International Jury: end of May 27

International website A powerful press agency - database of projects - co-operation - YRE connect - news - library of articles / photos 28

YRE Connect 29

National Website 30

Plans for Focus on MISSIONS Integrate YRE with EkoSkola / LEAF Website Criteria Experts Networking Facebook page Incentives Wrigley Litter Less Campaign

A good journalistic production Write about something that interests you: -H-Hunting in Malta -I-Illegal buildings and their consequences -T-The reality of smoking -N-Noise pollution -C-Camping vs environment -F-Fishing 32

Search for facts. Get comments and interviews from the persons concerned. 33

Your opinion is not important. Stick to the facts and to your interviewee's perspectives (not your own). 34 “Millions of sea turtles have been inadvertently trapped and killed by commercial fishing fleets over the last 20 years,’ a global survey has found.” Everybody knows that the Maltese products are more healthy and are even better in taste. vs

Presentation Take time to choose the perfect title – it determines whether your article will be read or not! 35 Ulysses is back Ġnien Ingraw – I can’t find my way out! Is the Solar Water Heater as efficient as they say?

Close with a bang – give the readers something to think about! 36 It’s a shame that 70,000,000 litres of surface run-off water is wasted and not being wisely used considering that water in Malta is a limited resource with an average of 547mm of rainfall in 85 days a year.

The opening paragraph should say it all – include essential information there. 37 Air Malta flight KM117 was today delayed from departing the UK to Malta after one of the emergency chutes deployed from a side emergency exit door, according to passengers onboard who informed di-ve.com. Summarise what you are selling, use the standard journalism 25 words of 'who, what, where, when, why’ as a first sentence.

Write in short paragraphs. Subtitles help a lot! 38

Interviews for features usually need to be in-depth and in person rather than over the phone - this enables you to add in colour and detail. 39

Use anecdotes and direct quotes to tell the story - try not to use too many of your own words. 40 “Bats are disappearing at an alarming rate, due largely in part to ignorance and a misunderstanding of the benefits they provide,” commented the bat specialist last week.

Decide on the ‘tense' of your story at the start and stick to it. Present tense usually works best 41 S choolchildren, documentary buffs and nature enthusiasts are in for a treat with the release of a “ground-breaking” feature on Maltese wildlife. Titled Man Marries Nature and directed by Ryan Gatt, the documentary has been three years in the making and features high-definition footage of all forms of Maltese biodiversity.

Ideas come from everywhere - watch, read, listen, keep up to date, take notes. 42 Last Monday saw a revival of interest in bats around Halloween. A fact sheet from the International Union for Conservation of Species was put out for the occasion. According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, around 20 per cent of all bat species are now threatened. China’s glaciers in meltdown mode – study Bats at sundown

Write in a simple, clean way. You don't get a reward for using complex words that only a few will understand. The best articles are those that anyone can read (from the business men to your own grandmother). 43 Climate change is reducing the body size of many animal and plant species, including some which supply vital nutrition for more than a billion people already living near hunger’s threshold, according to a study.

A picture sells the story - offer good quality images 44

Good quality photos Single photograph, or a photographic series/essay of up to 12 photographs Photographic entries must have a title and a short caption Photographs must be submitted digitally as.jpg,.png,.tif, or.gif format, ideally converted into high-quality.pdf, with a resolution of not less than dp 45 The Murder of Wied il-Għasel

Good quality videos 46 Videos must be no more than 3 minutes long and must be in documentary or reporter/interview style. A video must be accompanied by a title. The format must be compatible with YouTube, i.e.: –WebM files - Vp8 video codec and Vorbis Audio codecs –.MPEG4, 3GPP and MOV files - Typically supporting h264, mpeg4 video codecs, and AAC audio codec –.AVI - Many cameras output this format - typically the video codec is MJPEG and audio is PCM –.MPEGPS - Typically supporting MPEG2 video codec and MP2 audio –.WMV –.FLV - Adobe-FLV1 video codec, MP3 audio

YRE... a unique opportunity... to voice your views and get heard. Make use of it! 47 Young reporters at SMC Verdala BSS