The Journ Project was originally a project conceptualized by the Broadcast Journalism Program council as a response to encourage enrollment to the Broadcast Journalism Program of De La Salle University-Dasmariñas in the face of challenges experienced by the University with the shift to the K+12 system.
TJP was intended to provide a sustainable solution to help the program survive the decline in enrollment brought on by the introduction of the Senior High School Program. For two years, there were no new enrollees to the Broadcast Journalism Program which made the BJPC and the Communication and Journalism Department take matters into their own hands.
Instead of simply waiting for new students to enroll to the program, the BJPC initiated The Journ Project to market and promote the program to incoming college students, igniting the passion of high school students to pursue their passion for the art of journalism.
However, through the course of the project, The Journ Project has evolved from a necessary innovation to an inspiring success story. By inspiring participants and pushing their boundaries, TJP has become a groundbreaking pioneer program that set the tone for the future of DLSU-D’s Broadcast Journalism Program.
The Journ Project: A Glimpse Behind the Award Winning Project
The Journ Project is a journalism competition organized by the Broadcast Journalism Program Council of De La Salle University – Dasmariñas to showcase, harness, and develop Senior High School students’ skills in the field of journalism through news writing, feature writing, photojournalism, radio broadcasting and public service announcement video production competitions.
The program was created with several goals in mind, chief among them are:
- Foster camaraderie between neighboring schools and institutions through sharing the university’s technical resources (media equipment and laboratories) to the participating students for usage and training;
- Strengthen the idea of responsible citizenship by using socially-relevant issues as the topics for the news and feature writing competitions and public service announcement video competition;
- Increase the social media metrics of the official Facebook Page of the Broadcast Journalism Program Council to garner wider audience reach and mileage by using the page as the platform in publishing the PSAs of the participating schools;
- Propagate the Lasallian core values (Faith, Service, and Communion) to the participating schools by providing them effective student-oriented service through getting a 3.8 mark on the participant evaluation; and lastly,
- Empower incoming freshmen college students to choose De La Salle University – Dasmariñas’ Broadcast Journalism as their degree program in college.
The Journ Project reported many learnings from organizing the competition. It also faced many challenges, especially at the start of the program. From questions about the mechanics and the judging process, organizers used feedbacks they received from the evaluation to come out with a bigger and better competition.
By focusing on current issues for the contests, the competition encouraged participants to dig deep and understand the role of journalists in society. Issues affecting journalism were also explored to introduce important concepts in pursuing the profession.
The contests also challenged participants’ competencies in using different tools to share their message to a wider audience. As a matter of fact, DLSU-D Senior High School’s Pilipino Muna (Filipinos First), which was originally crafted for TJP, was awarded Best Student Public Service TV Ad during the 40th Mass Media Award.
TJP also successfully propagated the Lasallian core values of Faith, Service, and Communion by going out of its way to pioneer an ambitious project that is committed to ensuring a fair and honest contest tailored after professional press conference formats.
Organizers were able to build a community and a network with partner schools by showcasing the best that the University has to offer. During the competition, participants were also inspired and motivated to become part of the industry through hands on experience.
The Journ Project eventually achieved its goal of promoting the program by encouraging more enrollment. The Broadcast Journalism Program received a sufficient number of enrollees to continue and enrich the program.
The Broadcast Journalism Program Council recently celebrated its victory in receiving the Top Student Quill Award in the Communication Training and Education Category for The Journ Project.
Project adviser and Communication and Journalism Department Chair Artin Umali recalled the early days when the program was initially established by the program council as Camp Journ, a project that aimed to provide workshops and trainings for student journalists from DLSU-D and other schools.
In 2018, the project evolved into The Journ Project which expanded its reach and coverage to more senior high school students with the inclusion of a competition to encourage interest in the Broadcast Journalism program. It also included talks facilitated by DLSU-D alumni on the transition from campus journalism to real life media practice, making the topic more relatable to aspiring media practicioners.
Asked what the victory’s takeaway is for the student participants and faculty, Umali said: “Let the students be creative to think about the projects they want to undertake and let them execute them. What's important is just be there for them to support and guide them in exploring their ideas.”
The project is jointly funded by the Broadcast Journalism Program Council with support from the CJD.