TIPA Rules
EDITORIAL WRITING
Writing deadline is one hour. Contestants may witness a situation, event, activity or be given a
topic. Related fact sheet(s) and materials will be provided. Criteria: Effectiveness (makes a point), logical development, significantly related to the topic, persuasiveness (takes a definite stand and supports stand), clarity of expression, is rational, style, grammar, spelling, punctuation,
Materials needed : Writing contests may be on either computer (laptop or portable computer with USB) or hand written in blue or black ink. Contestants may use tape recorders with earphones only. Contestants must provide note pad and writing instrument for taking notes. AP Stylebooks, thesaurus and dictionaries may be used.
My Rules
- Never use first person singular "I" and editorial is the unsigned official position of the newspaper editorial board. If you must, use "we," but sticking to third person is better.
- Don't use direct quotes. Paraphrase can be great for evidence, but unless the quote itself is what you are arguing for or against, you shouldn't use other people's words.
- Avoid phrases such as "we think," or "it is our opinion." These qualifiers weaken your position. Just state your position as if it is the truth.
- Do not equivocate. Take a firm stand. While some complex topics require that you acknowledge what those who take the other stand might state, you should briefly acknowledge the other side, and then cut down the argument.
- Always consider your audience. What will convince them? What do they care about?
Contest tips
Start with the SPECS formula
Write notes about each of the following components of a good editorial. Stretch, look around the room, think about something else for two minutes, and then use your SPECS outline to write a killer draft.
S - Situation. BRIEFLY explain the situation. Be accurate, but frame the situation in the way that you want to deal with it.
P - Position. In ONE clear statement, tell the reader your position on the topic. BE CLEAR.
E- Evidence. Use facts, short stories, emotional appeals etc. to lay out your case. Remember that people are persuaded by Ethos (an appeal to who you are in relation to a group, and what is right to do for that group), Pathos (an appeal to emotions), and Logos (an appeal to logic). The right mix of these will be the basis for your evidence.
C- Conclusion. This is the "therefore" statement. Briefly sum up what all of your evidence means.
S- Solution. Now that you have convinced your reader that your position is correct, what now? Explain how to fix the situation. Often this takes the form of a call to action where you explain to the reader what they should do to make the situation better.
Writing notes for SPECS is excellent prewriting, and many great editorials actually follow the formula exactly.
TIPA 2009 Winning Entries
1st Place
Editorial Writing
By Laura Acuff
Abilene Christian University
When another student accused eighth grader Savana Redding of possessing prescriptionstrength
ibuprofen at school, officials did not ask Redding about the accusation. They did not search her belongings. Instead, they subjected the 13-year-old honor student to a strip search without explanation.
“They asked me to pull out my bra and move it from side to side,” Redding said. “They made me open my legs and pull out my underwear.”
Officials found no pills.
Now, the Safford Unified School District faces legal charges by Redding, who suffered from anxiety, distrust and ulcers after the incident. The Supreme Court will hear arguments April 21.
For the protection of American children in public schools, the Supreme Court must rule in Redding’s favor.
Assistant Principal Kerry Wilson, who ordered the strip search, suspected Redding because another student, caught with prescription drugs, implicated Redding and because school staff members thought they smelled alcohol around a “rowdy” group of students at a school dance weeks earlier.
Despite Wilson’s suspicions’ basis on other students—students already deemed untrustworthy—responsibility to secure a safe learning environment might have justified a search of Redding’s purse.
In 1985, a Supreme Court ruling permitted school officials to search students’ purses without warrant or possible cause with reasonable suspicions. Yet a fine line exists between preserving students’ personal safety and preserving their freedoms.
Purses are inanimate objects. They cannot carry lifelong scars from abuse.
Wilson’s order stripped the girl of her dignity along with her clothes, establishing her as an object without right to feel, object or even ask why. An unfavorable ruling toward Redding would effectively strip American children of rights each day they attend the institutions meant to educate and protect.
The Supreme Court ruling must favor Redding. It must protect the children Safford Unified School District officials would not.
2nd Place
Editorial Writing
By David Hall
TCU
The prison-like powers that some schools insist on maintaining in order to crack down on students must be stopped, and the Supreme Court should do its part on April 21 when it hears Safford Unified School District v. Redding.
Savana Redding, an eighth grader, was stripped searched on suspicion of possessing prescription-strength ibuprofen in 2003.
Assistant principal Kerry Wilson ordered the senseless search which violated the honors student’s personal rights because he thought a substance abuse problem was invading his school after a group of teenagers smelled like alcohol at a school dance a few weeks earlier.
As judge Kim McLane Wardlaw of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said for the majority in hearing the case, “It does not require a constitutional scholar to conclude that a nude search of a 13-year-old child is an invasion of constitutional rights.”
No, it doesn’t.
Does Wilson seem to think that a young girl without a blotch on her record suddenly became an expert drug smuggler overnight and would hide pills in her underwear? Furthermore, what does the situation of other students drinking at a school dance have to do with a strip search for ibuprofen? It just doesn’t add up.
While abuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs by adolescents is rising, the key is educating them early on the dangers of drugs, not treating them like hardened felons.
Children are not dogs and deserve to be treated with respect; using search tactics usually reserved for suspected drug dealers and terrorists is a serious violation of constitutional rights.
A school is not the Wild West and the administration cannot feel free to, as ACLU lawyer Adam B. Wolf said, “…strip-search and ask questions later.”
3rd Place
Editorial Writing
By Frances Matteck
Tarrant County College
School personnel have no right to conduct personal searches on students in the quest to enforce zero-tolerance drug and violence policies.
Savana Redding was 13 years old and a good student when she was strip searched by the school nurse and secretary on the orders of Kerry Wilson, assistant principal. He suspected Redding of possessing prescription-strength ibuprofen on campus.
Wilson made the assumption that Redding was guilty based on an allegation of intoxication against a group of students and not her specifically. He enjoined the search despite Redding’s good record and defended his actions even after the search proved fruitless.
Safford Unified School District contends that Redding’s record is irrelevant.
“Her assertion should not be misread to infer that she never broke school rules, only that she was never caught,” said a statement released by administration.
So are all students guilty until proven innocent now? There is no justice in this mode of thinking.
Even if Redding had been an adult at the time of the search, her constitutional rights would still have been violated. The fact that she was a 13-year-old shows gross misconduct on the part of school officials.
Those same officials might argue they must go to extreme measures to protect the children in their schools from drugs and violence. But who was protecting Redding?
Even if the search had proven that she possessed the medication, one prescription strength ibuprofen is equal to two Advils. The school nurse can dispense that to students for headaches.
Schools constantly battle drugs and violence on their campuses, but the end does not justify the means. The school is guilty of violating Redding’s rights and was negligent in its responsibility of protecting her. Zero-tolerance drug and violence policies should not be abused in this fashion.
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