Students now have two excellent opportunities to show off their journalistic skills. This year The Irish Times launches School Mag 2009 and the brand spanking new Hewlett Packard Newsletter competition. Transition Times reveals all the details

2008 is a very special year for Irishmedia. As The Irish TimesSchool Mag competition continues to produce sterling publications from Ireland's budding media moguls, the introduction of a new contender will expand the student media market further. The Hewlett Packard (HP) Newsletter Competition (see below) is a fresh opportunity for students to show off their publishing flair. The two competitions will focus on different aspects of journalism and schools are free to enter either or both, with amazing prizes as always for the best entries in each.

IRISH TIMES SCHOOL MAG COMPETITION 2009

AFTER THE SUCCESS of the last four years, School Mag is back once more. Last year's winners in the senior category, Coláiste Oiriall of Monaghan, surprised everyone by being the first entrant to win the overall competition two years running! Likewise, the junior winners from Blackrock College also did us proud. They've raised the bar and it is now up to other entrants to rise to that challenge.

For both junior and senior categories this year, the emphasis will change a little. Magazines are produced over a longer period than newspapers, and so the School Mag judges will be looking for content that is generally more feature-based with an emphasis on high quality design and layout.

Irish TimesMagazine columnist Roisín Ingle sets out what she'll be looking for from the entries. "The best resource is face-to-face interviews for feature writing," she stresses. "Speaking to the person who your story affects, rather than just getting information from the internet, always makes for a stronger piece.

"With magazines you must try to inform but also entertain," she adds. "Get the reader's attention from the outset. People's concentration spans are increasingly shorter so a good feature needs to grab the reader's attention.

"Originality will always catch the judge's eye. What's brilliant about this competition is that it's from a young person's perspective, which we don't get a lot of in the newspaper. We don't hear from young people in the day-to-day covering of issues. Use that to your advantage. Your magazine is a forum to explore social issues that affect you and your school."

Design judge Anthea McTeirnan, production editor of the Irish TimesMagazine, is also looking for something fresh. "What makes a school magazine stand out visually? It's always difficult expressing the visual in words, which might explain why it's so impressive when you dazzle us by expressing your words with such potent visuals.

"For the past two years the magazines produced by the overall senior winners, Coláiste Oiriall of Monaghan, have led the way. In 2007 they even came up with a new way of delivering, folding and packaging a magazine that we had not encountered before. That's impressive!

"It's tricky giving you advice, as advice can clip heels as much as inspire. Just be brave, be bold and think outside the box. We've handed out awards for overall design, typography, photography, cartoons and illustrations. You'll know you're onto a winner and we'll know you're onto a winner as soon as we open it. Catch our eyes."

Don't worry if this is all sounding too daunting. Transition Timeswill be here every step of the way to provide you with all the advice needed to make a top-class glossy magazine. From November we will begin a weekly guide to help you with every aspect of magazine production. There's €10,000 worth of prizes this year and the closing date for registration to enter School Mag is Friday November 28th, 2008. Entries must be submitted by Friday February 27th, 2009 and the awards ceremony will take place in Dublin's Science Gallery on Monday April 27th. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. There's plenty of work to be done in the meantime. So get to it! As always, www.irishtimesschoolmag.ie is there to help anyone with information and advice to get you started.

HEWLETT PACKARD NEWSLETTER COMPETITION

EXTRA! EXTRA! The HP Newsletter plans to shake the foundations of Ireland's schools. With this new competition, HP and The Irish Timeshope to find Ireland's next roving reporters and investigative journalists. With a shorter page count and production time-frame than School Mag, the HP Newsletter will focus on news and events in your school and locality and should resemble a newspaper more than a magazine.

Judges will be looking at three areas. Firstly, the written content: is it interesting and is it suited to the intended audience? Secondly, design: does the design suit the topics of the newsletter? Does it make it easy to read? Does it grab your attention and is it unique? Thirdly, the print quality must be up to scratch.

As in any good newspaper, there is still room for pictures, opinion pieces and features. Paul Cullen, Consumer Affairs Correspondent for The Irish Times, is on the panel of judges for the newsletter and will be looking for diversity, originality and a keen eye for a story. "What makes a good newspaper is a diverse mix with something for everyone inside its pages," he says. "Newsletters need to tell people stories that are relevant to their lives, stories that they haven't heard before elsewhere. I'll be looking for news that informs readers about what's happening in the world around them, that is written in an accessible manner, and which may even have the capacity to surprise.

"Competitions like this play an important role in encouraging students to get out and write about things as opposed to just thinking about doing it," he adds. "They have to go out and do the legwork that's a prerequisite for news reporting and learn how to order information in a readable fashion."

Stephan Stynes of Direct Brand Marketing will judge the overall design in the newsletter competition. "I will be looking for innovation and creativity in communication and how limited resources are put to best use. Quality of design and, in particular, use of images and photography will be important. You are the internet generation and no one knows how to utilise and invent new forms of communication better."

Entrants will be in with a chance to win a load of HP computer equipment and a visit to the Irish Timesnewsroom where they can see how everything works and get some "behind the scenes" experience of how our reporters dig up news exclusives.

Unlike School Mag, the entries for the newsletter must include a paper version printed on your own school's equipment and it is this "hard copy" that will be judged.

Entries must be no bigger than four A4 pages in length, with a title on the front page, and there are three different age categories: 7-11 years, 12-14 years and 15-19 years. The closing date for entries is November 28th, 2008.

From next week, Transition Timeswill be giving you tips and advice on how best to produce a newsletter.

There's also loads of information at www.hp.com/ie/newslettercompetition, with details on the competition - criteria, prizes, deadlines - along with resources for teachers to help start a newsletter. If you have any queries on either competition you can e-mail schoolmag@irish-times.ie