The three instructions in the box are the marking scheme, so obey them literally: past tense, passive voice, third person — no ‘I', no ‘we', no ‘our school was excited'. The passive is required here for the reason given on page 242: in a report the event matters, not the organiser.
ZONAL SCIENCE EXHIBITION HOSTED AT SCHOOL; ‘CLEAN WATER, CLEAN AIR' TEAM TAKES TROPHY
by Aarav Deshmukh, Student Editor
The Zonal Science Exhibition was organised by the Directorate of Education and hosted by this school on Friday, 22 August, from 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. in the senior school auditorium and the adjoining science block. It was held to mark National Science Day and to give students of the zone a platform on which working models and original investigations could be presented to an audience beyond their own classrooms. Teams from 25 schools took part, with over 180 students participating. The exhibition was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Dr. Sujata Iyer, Senior Scientist at the Regional Research Laboratory, who was received by the Principal and the Science Club coordinators.
Three competitions were conducted through the day. A Science Quiz was held in the first session, in which twelve teams answered questions on space missions, the periodic table and Indian scientists; it was won by Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 9. In the Working Models section, forty-one exhibits were displayed, among them a low-cost rainwater harvesting unit for flat rooftops, a solar-powered seed drier, an Arduino-based air-quality monitor that logged particulate readings from the school gate, a hydraulic bridge, and a model of the Chandrayaan-3 soft landing sequence complete with a working braking mechanism. A Poster and Investigation section was judged separately, in which a study of the germination rate of seeds soaked in treated and untreated water drew particular attention. The trophy for the best exhibit was awarded to the team from Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 2 for their project ‘Clean Water, Clean Air', which combined a gravity-fed sand-and-charcoal filter with a low-cost particulate sensor and presented three weeks of readings taken at four points in the town.
In her closing address, the Chief Guest observed that the standard of measurement, rather than of construction, had improved most since she last judged a zonal exhibition, and she remarked that “a model that has been measured for three weeks is worth ten that were built in a weekend.” Visiting teachers noted the number of exhibits addressing local problems — water, air and waste — instead of textbook demonstrations. The exhibition was concluded with the distribution of certificates by the Principal, and a vote of thanks was proposed by the Head of the Science Department.
- Headline — short, in capitals or bold, and containing the news, not just the topic. ‘Science Exhibition Held' is a label; the sample headline names the outcome.
- By-line — the reporter's name and designation, exactly as asked.
- Paragraph 1 answers the five W's — who, what, when, where, why — and no more.
- Paragraph 2 gives the detail: the competitions, the topics with real specifics, the winner. Vague phrases like ‘many interesting models were displayed' waste the space where the marks are.
- Paragraph 3 closes with reactions and the formal conclusion, including one quotation. A quotation is what makes a report read like reporting.