A local program initiative in the East Bay is being recognized this week for its work with high school students, receiving an international journalism award from Global Youth & News Media.
On Sept. 4, the Contra Costa Youth Journalism (CCYJ) program and its fiscal sponsor, the Bay City News Foundation (BCN), were named winners of a Global Youth & News Media Prize Award for Journalism, which commended the program for its training of local youth to report, write and produce community stories. The international jury of veteran journalists presented 19 winners across 16 countries with a gold, silver or community award. CCYJ won gold.
The awards committee found CCYJ’s remote training model, designed to improve accessibility and inclusion, to be a well-structured and an effective learning design, with a positive impact in serving students of color and in underserved communities.
“The Contra Costa Youth Journalism program is a strong model for empowering secondary school students from underserved districts to fill local news gaps and increase diversity in journalism by training them in journalism fundamentals,” the judges concluded.
Based in Bayonne, France, Global Youth & News Media awards organizations, programs and initiatives in news media work that educates and encourages the world’s youth population to pursue a career in journalism. In addition to its awards, the nonprofit runs its own international initiatives to reach youth in journalism, as well as supporting joint actions in social justice. Co-founder, president and executive director Aralynn McMane said this year’s awards “honored news companies that gave youth real power in helping local journalism survive.”
CCYJ launched in the 2024 spring semester in an effort to expand opportunities for Contra Costa County high school students to share stories about their schools and communities. Its goal also addressed the lack of diversity in the media industry, as well as a rise in local news “deserts.”
CCYJ works directly with the Contra Costa County Office of Education, an early supporter of the program, which asks counselors and teachers to identify students and urge them to apply for the program. Once chosen for the program, students attend a series of workshops for boot camp-style training before being assigned to and mentored by professional journalists and journalism educators. These writing coaches help the students learn media ethics, journalism basics in newswriting, interviewing practices, how to cover issues in their communities and more.
Students’ stories are professionally edited and published on CCSpin.net and republished on Bay Cities News’ website, Local News Matters. Stories also are made available free of charge to any news organizations. The East Bay Times, for example, carries CCYJ stories in its print editions and website.
Bruce Koon, program coordinator for CCYJ, said this award is more than a title. He said it’s also a message for the younger generation and the world of journalism.
“Even at a high school level, these students are more than capable of producing professional-level stories and informing what’s happening in their community,” Koon said.
Katherine Rowlands, owner and publisher at BCN, shared the same sentiments.
“We’re really grateful for the opportunity that other people see the value of the work,” Rowlands said. “That should help us tell the story even more effectively and more broadly, so that more people will volunteer or donate or share.”
Koon said he hopes this international recognition will help CCYJ expand further. He said he envisions future students attending field trips to university journalism departments, taking part in national journalism programs, and hearing from more professional journalists. Rowlands said she hopes this will encourage other Bay Area communities to create similar models.
“You’re presenting words in an accurate and thoughtful way, trying to tell stories that matter to a community or a certain population or a certain place,” Rowlands said. “These are all really wonderful things to learn as a young person, even if you don’t end up in journalism as a career.”
Sophia Goyena completed CCYJ’s 2024 spring program when she was a 12th grader at Dozier-Libbey Medical High School in Antioch. She is now in her first year at Los Medanos College in Brentwood.
