The Golden Pen Awards is the highest competition for budding writers (journalism

Journalism

Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

) in both private and public schools in the Western Visayas

Western Visayas

Western Visayas, one of the regions of the Philippines, is designated as Region VI. It consists of six provinces; Aklan, Antique, Negros Occidental, Capiz, Guimaras and Iloilo and 16 cities making it the region with the highest number of cities. Iloilo City is the regional center...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 pursuant to the Sec. 1 Rule IX of Republic Act 7079 also known as Campus Journalism Act of 1991. The writing contest includes both students from the elementary and secondary

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

 level.

This journalism contest is separately organized compared to Regional Schools Press Conference (RSPC) wherein the winners will advance to the National Schools Press Conference

National Schools Press Conference

The National Schools Press Conference is the highest competition for journalism in both private schools and public elementary and high schools in the Philippines. Established in the year 1991 in pursuant to the Secretary. 1 Rule IX of Republic Act 7079 also known as Campus Journalism Act of 1991...

 (NSPC). This structure would still depend on the organizing committees and to Department of Education (Philippines)

Department of Education (Philippines)

The Department of Education , is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for the management and governing of the Philippine system of basic education. It is the chief formulator of Philippine educational policy and is responsible for the Philippine primary and secondary...

 to ensure a higher standard for the campus journalists. The contest is scheduled annually with four level/category to select its winners started from gardes 3-4, grades 5-6 for the elementary level and 1st year to 2nd year and 3rd to 4th year for the high school level.

Training, development and contest

Students who will compete in the Golden Pen Awards attend seminars before the actual competition. The contest are all in English medium and all category are judged independently and all points will be added to every writer's entry which will determain his standing and the overall points will be total to the school standing as a group contest. There will group winners awarded as top 10 best performing schools, individual ranking from 10th place up to the 1st place standing in six categories, likewise the most promising writer, outstanding writer and the highest individual awards as golden pen awards recipient.

Contest and Categories

• News Writing
• Editorial
  Editorial
  An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
  
   Cartooning
• Editorial Writing
• Feature Writing
• Sports Writing
  Writing
  Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...
  
  
• Copyreading / Headline
  Headline
  The headline is the text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article below it.It is sometimes termed a news hed, a deliberate misspelling that dates from production flow during hot type days, to notify the composing room that a written note from an editor concerned a...
  
   Writing
  Writing
  Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...