Here is their story of how they got on.
“There’s something very different about your favourite newspaper today! That’s because we, The Aquila Club, have taken over from Nigel Pickover to become the editors for the day.
(Pictured: assistant editor David Powles with some of the Aquila Club.)
You may remember us from a series of stories in the paper prior to Christmas about our fundraising activities.
We go to Kinsale Junior School, in Hellesdon, and every year members of our club try to raise money for charity.
In November 2012 we hosted a charity ball at Dunston Hall in aid of Nelson’s Journey and Children In Need. We raised more than £11,000 and were really happy with how it all went.
We were then contacted by the Evening News to say that we could edit the newspaper for the day as a reward for our hard work and we were thrilled to be invited.
Our day started with a briefing from Nigel Pickover (before we took over his office). He spoke to us about the paper and the important role it plays in the community.
We then had a discussion with David Powles, assistant editor, about the things that make a good newspaper. We decided to write them up as a panel to go on the page you are reading now.
The first conference of the day takes place at 10am and the news agenda for the day was presented to us. Our first choice was to decide which stories to put on the front to try and sell the paper when it reaches the streets.
We liked a story about a new Aldi opening, but felt the launch of the new charity appeal would resonate with the readers. We liked the fact it showed that the paper cares about the community it serves.
The other decision was to put the outcome of Norwich versus Spurs on the front as we know how much people will want to read about that.
Each of us chose our favourite story and why, before heading into Norwich to speak to people about charities and their importance. Our reward was lunch with Mr Pickover (he seemed to be enjoying the break for a day), before spending a bit more time writing our stories about the day itself.
Later on, afternoon conference took place and we were told how a few new stories had come in during the day, including a Norwich City signing and some police raids.
We didn’t think any of them needed to go on the front, but they were good stories.
We had a brilliant day and didn’t want it to end, as did our headteacher, Carolyn Baxter, who said: “The children really looked forward to this day and they have clearly had a great time. They are now in a better position to understand the work that goes into writing newspapers and the importance of making good choices; especially with what is put on the front page.
“They particularly enjoyed going into the city centre to collect people’s opinions to help with a story. I am sure they will remember this day for a long time.” Our final few minutes at the Evening News were spent hearing about some of the tweets about us and doing a bit of filming for the new Mustard TV.
Adam Cork said: “It was not what I expected. There are a lot more computers than I thought and lots of people. The best thing was everything, it was all amazing. We got to pick a story and went into the editor’s office. We saw our pictures on the website and that appeared very quickly. The vox pop was fun, meeting and taking pictures of members of the public. The day has been amazing.”
Rebecca Cator, said: “Today was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I became an editor for the day. It was very exciting and we did a lot of things. We had to go out on to the street to do a vox pop, which means getting people’s opinions. We were outside for quite a while talking to people because no one seemed to want to stop. We went back to the office to write our reports. Even though we did a lot of talking and typing, we still had lots of fun!”
See more pictures and a video of the day here on EveningNews24
