RSPC pushes for F2F tilts; ZN Division births 1st DisSPC

The world is slowly going back to normal. Some manifestations of this is the expected face-to-face conduct of the 2023 Regional Schools Press Conference (RSPC) of Region IX and the District Schools Press Conferences (DisSPC) in the entire Schools Division of Zamboanga del Norte (ZN Division) which are set to commence on June and around March to April respectively.

The RSPC caused the ZN Division to start the competitions in the district level as to cut down the number of participants in the division level of competitions. This is the first time in the history of Schools Press Conference in the ZN Division.

It can be remembered that the RSPC halted after the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic but resumed operation online in 2022 while new catego- ries were introduced, such as mobile journalism, journalism vlog, research on campus journalism, documentary film, and online publication. However, in this year’s RSPC, these categories will not be part of the contests reverting to the previous line-up of competitions.

The RSPC will include news writing, editorial writing, feature writing, column writing, sports writing, science and technology writing, copyreading and headline writing, editorial cartooning, and photojournalism for the individual category, while TV script writing and broadcasting, radio script writing and broadcasting, and collaborative publishing are for the group category.

The newspaper contest retained its mechanics, however will be submitted in a portable document format.

According to School Paper Adviser Melanie E. Fronda, though the news about the RSPC surprised them as its official memorandum was only signed on March 10, they will take the challenge.

“I was surprised that we are only given one month to accomplish the newspaper. We did not make one for this year, because it was declared that there will be no RSPC this year, but we will take this challenge,” Fronda revealed.

Fronda along with other school paper advisers in Siocon District are preparing for the DisSPC hoping that they will reach the regional level of competitions and in the nationals eventually.

Meanwhile, Siocon District will conduct its 1st DisSPC on March 25 and April 11.