A new year of Youth Speak News

TORONTO - Andrew Santos recently landed a full-time position at Salt + Light Television as an associate producer. A former member of the Youth Speak News team, Santos says YSN played a huge role in forming his vocation as a journalist.

Santos, now 21, says his YSN editors always challenged him to think outside the box and to be as creative as possible.

“And to this day, I still find myself exercising great care when it comes to my work.”

And with a new year of Youth Speak News kicking off, another team of young writers will have the same opportunity to jump headfirst into Catholic journalism.

In its 12th year, The Catholic Register’s youth program brings together young Catholic writers from across the country to cover events and provide insight on important issues affecting Catholic youth, while sharing the ups and downs of being faithful in today’s world.

“Writing for YSN forced me to sit down and truly reflect on what I believe as a Catholic student living in a secular world,” said former YSN writer Stephanie Kelly, currently a fourth-year journalism student at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick. “It also gave me the opportunity to connect with other Catholic students from across the country, which taught me a lot about the Church and the role youth play in it.”

While they are building their experience and compiling clippings, YSN helps its members with writing skills, interviewing techniques and photography.

“Being a part of the YSN team allowed me to grow as a journalist because I was given the freedom to pitch my own story ideas and was able to get experience writing both hard news and columns,” said Kelly. “Writing for Youth Speak News gave me a voice and the opportunity to tell stories that reached out to other Catholic students across the country.”

To become a YSN writer, candidates must go through an application process: filling out an application, submitting a nomination letter and resume and, ultimately, interviewing for the position.

With this year’s applications hitting an all-time high, the 2011-12 team includes writers from Ontario, British Columbia and Newfoundland. Among them are journalism students, university students enrolled in other areas (including a business student and French studies student) and high school students with an interest in media.

“Still in the early stages of the team, I can already tell that the best part of the experience will be the search for stories,” said Kevin Hurren, a first-year media, information and technoculture student at the University of Western Ontario. “As a first-year university student living on campus, I’m enjoying being part of a new world and meeting new people. I know my experience with Youth Speak News will be an extension of that.”

Hurren is looking forward to the experience.

“I know that the stories I cover for Youth Speak News will have an impact on me and my time with The Catholic Register will open a whole new world.”

Once the writers finish their term in May, the team is invited to spend a weekend in Toronto to take part in professional media workshops offered by The Catholic Register and Salt + Light Television and to meet with all the other writers.