National High School Mock Trial Championship, Inc.National High School Mock Trial Championship, Inc.
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Promoting an understanding and appreciation
of the American judicial system through
academic competitions and other endeavors for students

Courtroom Journalist Contest

The Courtroom Journalist Contest is a competition that allows students to experience a courtroom setting from the perspective of a news reporter and learn about the American legal system from actual judges and attorneys. Through the voice of a newspaper reporter reporting on a case, students observe and report on their schools’ mock trials. Students submit an article depicting the courtroom trial. Contestants will attend NHSMTC with their state team and write an article on the courtroom scene during their team's Round 3 trial. Each state with a Courtroom Reporter is eligible to send their state champion courtroom reporter to compete in the NHSMTC Courtroom Journalist Contest. The top three entries will be acknowledged at the NHSMTC Awards Ceremony.

JOURNALISM CONTEST RULES

The official rules can be found in Section 8 of the Rules of the Competition.

Requirements:

  • All contestants must have participated in a Courtroom Journalist Contest in their state (at any level).
  • All participants must pay a $75.00 registration fee and register as your state’s official courtroom
  • reporter.
  • All participants agree to the publication or reprinting of their article for educational purposes.
  • No financial compensation will be awarded.

Contest Procedures:

  • The official courtroom journalism contest articles will be produced in Round 3. Contestants may practice reporting in Rounds 1 and 2, in the courtroom where their team is competing.
  • The article must report on your state’s round 3 trial. You must draft your article completely independently without the help of any source or person. 
  • During the trial, introduce yourself to the scorers, say your name and identify yourself as the courtroom reporter. Do not say what state or school you are from.
  • You may sit in the jury box away from scorers if space is available. You must wear your name tag.
  • Once the trial begins, you may not move about the courtroom. Reporters may not communicate, either verbally or non-verbally, with any member of the Mock Trial teams or any visitors in the courtroom during the trial rounds.
  • After Round 3, the journalist must type their final articles to submit to courtroomjournalism@nationalmocktrial.org by 3:00 pm on May 20th .
  • Only articles submitted by the deadline will be entered in the contest.

Article Specifications:

  • Submitted articles should be in the voice of a reporter covering the Round 3 trial.
  • Each courtroom journalist shall place their name and team code only – not their state or school – on the top left corner of the page.
  • The article must be in 12-point, Times New Roman font with one-inch margins.
  • The article must be double-spaced.
  • No article may exceed 850 words, excluding the journalist’s name and team code.

Judging Components:

  • Articles are evaluated and scored anonymously by a judge or judging team. The highest-scoring article will be named the NHSMTC Courtroom Journalist National Champion.
  • The results of the NHSMTC Courtroom Journalist Contest will be announced at the Awards Ceremony.

JOURNALISM CONTEST – ANATOMY OF NEWS STORY
JUDGING CRITERIA

Questions?  Please contact the Courtroom Journalist Contest Committee at courtroomjournalism@nationalmocktrial.org.

NHSMTC Courtroom Journalist Contest Winners

2022 - Kalamazoo, MI
  1st Place: Aryan Nahal, Palma High School, California
  2nd Place: Matthew Hatch, Integritas School, Utah
  3rd Place: Makayla Stewart, ..., Michigan

Thank you to our sponsors who make the NHSMTC possible!

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