Everyone, or at least every publication, did a top ten list for the past decade. Top ten movies, songs, albums, innovations, trends, technical advancements, you name it. So now I’ll take a stab at it.

The Top Ten Stories Relating to Scholastic Broadcasting 2000-2009

10. The Copyright and Fair Use Dilemma As more scholastic TV programs popped up across the nation, including many that air only in-house, the use of copyrighted music, photos, and even video clips posed an ongoing dilemma for the teacher in the classroom. Kids have easy access via the Internet to all sorts of content, but when to let them use what became a daily challenge for teachers/advisers.

9. The Contest Explosion Contest opportunities for middle school and high school broadcast students have become so common, it’s impossible to keep up with all the opportunities to compete that come around almost every week. Yes, it’s made it easier to find recognition, but it has also watered down the meaning of a “national contest.”

8. No More “Student Emmy” Speaking of meaningful national recognition, the “National Student Television Award of Excellence,” often referred to as the high school “Emmy,” was a singular honor presented by NATAS. It started in 2004, and went away in 2008. Now there are still regional high school “Emmy” awards, but nothing matches being one of the seven winners at the national level, and having the legendary Av Westin say nice things about you at the classy award ceremony.

7. Camp STN It began in the summer of 2000 and has continued to be a unique experience among all the summer workshops for broadcast teachers. Demanding, hands-on, exhausting, rewarding, it’s been described as the “best week of training TV teachers can experience” by those who have attended. Many of the founders and leaders in STN first attended Camp STN and learned what the organization is all about. The Springfield, MO camp has gone on the road to Chicago, Boston, Las Vegas, and in 2010, California to train middle school and high school advisers.

6. The Journalism/Production Divide One of the outgrowths of the scholastic broadcast explosion is the gap between students and teachers who would prefer to concentrate on journalism and those who prefer to focus on film and production. It is an ongoing challenge in the classroom, and yes, it is an ongoing threat to those on the journalism side. Finding teens who are excited about covering meetings, events and straight news topics is difficult when these same teens see many of their friends making movies and music videos. It may be great for the production side, but journalism is taking a hit.

5. Schooltube The emergence of schooltube.com as a home for student video has helped hundreds of schools get exposure for their work. “Student-produced, teacher-approved” says it all in a world where there are plenty of portals for teens to share pointless, tasteless, unmonitored content. It was slow going at first, but Schooltube, with the support of the elementary and secondary administrators from coast to coast, is here to stay.

4. RTNDF’s High School Broadcast Journalism (HSBJ) Project In 2003 the HSBJ project was created to develop and nurture electronic journalism programs and promote First Amendment education in high schools across the country. Since then, thousands of teachers and students have benefited, and received training and even grants to support their efforts. Carol Knopes of RTNDF has been one of scholastic broadcast journalism’s real heroes in the last decade.

3. The STN Convention The first one was in 2004, and ever since the national convention hosted by the Student Television Network has been THE place to go for teens who are serious about broadcasting and video production. The event grew from 500 or over 1,600 in just three years, and it is the only event of its kind, focusing on video students dedicated to broadcast journalism or video production. The convention features the nation’s most competitive on-site contests for video students, and entrusts the hosting of its closing awards ceremony to the students themselves, making it a one-of-a-kind finish to a high-energy weekend.

2. The Digital Revolution It was felt in all areas of our society, including the broadcast classroom. The last ten years saw digital cameras and non-linear editing systems become the norm. The affordability of digital gear allowed many more schools to begin producing their own shows. It will be interesting to see where the next decade of digital innovation takes us, but rest assured high school and middle school producers will be along for the ride.

1. Convergence Not a new term by any means in 2010, “convergence” was hardly on our map in the scholastic setting back in 2000. We are still catching up with the professionals, but now most high school newspapers are going online, incorporating video clips into their coverage, and many (but not enough) high school broadcast programs have developed websites where they can make their work available. We are learning that it is all about delivering content, getting information to the consumer, in whatever form is appropriate. The days of being a high school PRINT journalist or BROADCAST journalist are about to disappear. A journalist in 2010 has to do it all.