On this special episode of HIKI NŌ on PBS Hawaiʻi, find out which schools produced the winning entries of the HIKI NŌ on PBS Hawaiʻi 2023 Fall Challenge, with host Sloan Billingsley, a junior at Campbell High School.

A day before the storytelling contest began, on Oct. 18, 2023, dozens of students and their teachers joined HIKI NŌ for an online educational workshop, in which they learned about how to find a compelling story for public television, how to strategize and work collaboratively as a production team and how to capture high-quality video and audio.

They also received tips from PBS Hawai‘i professionals about weaving their reporting together with interviews and discussed topics including journalistic integrity while working as HIKI NŌ student reporters for their original segments on PBS Hawai‘i.

The following morning, on Oct. 19, PBS Hawai‘i announced the Fall 2023 Challenge story prompt: “A Sign of the Times.” Students were given five days to answer the call and find stories that met the prompt. During a whirlwind five days, they modeled professional journalists and conducted interviews, captured footage and edited their stories without any hands-on help from teachers or HIKI NŌ’s industry professionals.

HIKI NŌ Challenges are held three times a school year and provide students with the opportunity to review and learn HIKI NŌ production standards, test their skills, and get a taste for what it is like to produce work under professional deadlines. During the normal, non-competitive HIKI NŌ on PBS Hawai‘i production cycle, students have several weeks and sometimes months to complete their projects and receive one-on-one mentorship from HIKI NŌ on PBS Hawai‘i mentors.  

The winning stories’ scores were based on production and storytelling criteria as well as how they fit the prompt. Watch this episode of HIKI NŌ on PBS Hawai‘i to see the stories they chose to tell.

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