The OpinionPanel scholarship for creativity in journalism

Every year, OpinionPanel awards a £1000 scholarship to the most creative postgraduate student studying at the City University School of Journalism. This year we’re proud to present the award to Alessandra Stefani de Medeiros, a rising producer, editor, presenter and broadcast journalist on Brazillian television who has just compeleted her Masters in International Journalism at City University. During her time at City she produced a radio documentary which explores the latest technological innovations aimed at helping blind and visually impaired children. Below, Alessandra describes her experiences creating the documentary, which you can listen to here.

Alessandra Stefani – Exploring the Invisible World

The challenge seemed to be huge: turn a 15-minute radio documentary into something interesting that would grab the listener’s attention. For someone whose background is TV – I had worked as a television reporter in Brazil for 6 years and always relied on the strength of “one picture is worth a thousand words” – the task appeared nearly impossible. Not to mention the language barrier; writing in your mother tongue is always more natural.

My goal was clear: to report on a relevant topic, to use a range of sounds and preferably to talk about children, a subject that has public appeal and in which I have personal interest. With the uncountable options that this theme presents, I started my research in an even wider universe of possibilities: the internet. After hours of exploration I made a decision: a closer look at modern devices and social projects that address the challenges faced by blind and visually impaired children.

Digging in the topic a bit more deeply, I found out that various amazing technological innovations have unveiled a new world to those who can’t see:

A force feedback pen has been developed by the University of Glasgow that helps blind children to write by guiding their hands. The device allows students who don’t have visual feedback from the pen to create their own signatures.

Visiting the Sight Village, one of the largest exhibitions for visually impaired people in Europe, I was introduced to a cane that produces ultrasonic waves, just like those emitted by bats. The sound travels through the air and bounces off an object. Its echo is processed by a little computer inside the cane, providing tactile feedback through the handle. This gives alerts users to dangerous obstacles ahead.

Another innovation that I came across was a special computer that comes with games for blind people. The product has a standard braille keyboard on which users type, telling the characters in the game what to do. With the audio feedback given by the computer, children can play a character in a role-playing game.

As well as the latest gadgets, I had the opportunity to meet incredible people, like Liam, a visually impaired teenager who explores books produced by Living Paintings, a charity that runs a free library and creates materials with raised pictures and audio descriptions. Or Artur Ortega, a blind software developer who plays virtual ping pong with his mobile phone. And Derek Paravicini, a blind and severely autistic man who is able to play any music after hearing it only once.

These wonderful stories that I gathered could be illustrated with loads of wild track recordings captured during the interviews – a technique totally unfamiliar to me before working on the project. It was during the masters course at City University that I learnt how to give due attention to ambient sound (an essential resource for a radio documentary) – how to capture it and make use of it most creatively. The modern facilities available at the campus and the encouragement given by the teachers stimulated me to try new things and think outside the box. But organising such rich material wasn’t easy. It took hours and hours of interviews transcriptions, numerous draft scripts and many tutorial sessions. Not to mention the loads of questions emailed to my tutor, whose support and guidance were essential in helping me to deliver a prize-winning radio documentary.

Yes, all the effort I had put into the final project was recognised. On a windy afternoon, a call from City University informed me I was the winner of the OpinionPanel prize for most creative postgraduate student. What a surprise! A non-native English speaker being awarded with a prize in the UK. It was much more than I expected when I left Brazil to study abroad. It’s great to know there are companies like OpinionPanel out there, supporting innovation among students and offering a platform for sharing ideas and experiences. An award like this inspires young professionals to always go above and beyond in their careers.