‘BBC Young Reporters’ Regional Winner, Grace, describes her journey from entering the competition to getting her own short film ‘Greyhound racing – supporting a local community’ released on the BBC.
Introduction
For those who haven’t heard of me. Hello! My name is Grace, I’m a 16 year old greyhound owner, enthusiast and aspiring journalist. I run a twitter page (@wilsongreyhound), showcasing my experience owning greyhounds, and promoting the sport through my twitter spaces known as ‘the greyhound family’ (making a comeback in early 2024). I am also a regular columnist here at Greyhound Weekly.
Enough about me now, earlier in the year I entered a journalism competition for people aged 11-18 in the UK and Ireland called the “BBC young reporters”. The theme for this year was ‘me and my world’ which seemed incredibly vague, allowing entrants to write pretty much anything! Of course, this meant I would be writing about the sport, the benefits on communities, and the joy of ownership. I entered a 200 word opening, which in all honesty wasn’t even finished… but low and behold, I was one of 20 winners!
What is the BBC young reporters?
For those who haven’t seen or heard about the BBC young reporters, it is one of the main gateways for young people to get into journalism! Every year, individual children aged 11-18, and classes from Y6-Y11 enter a 200 word opening to a piece fitting a given brief. For this year, this brief was ‘me and my world’ but previous briefs have been more precise such as the 2021 briefs of ‘coronavirus stories’ and ‘uplifting stories’. Winners are picked based on the strength of their story, the story’s relevance, and the overall writing skill. There are typically 20 winners picked from the thousands of entrants, some being national winners (the top stories which affects the whole of the UK and Ireland), and others being regional. The winners get to work with the BBC on creating their piece. This can be written, filmed, or broadcast on radio, depending on the type of story and the topic.
The Shortlisting process
I entered my piece way back in march, with an article about Owlerton greyhound stadium in Sheffield and the benefits racing has on communities around the UK. The article focussed on all the positives of the sport, and the joys of ownership. It wasn’t until June however that the winners were announced. During these 4 months, I had 3 phone calls with a man working on the BBC young reporter team. These phone calls were to better explain the article, what it means to me, and provide some extra details for the judges.
The first of these phone calls was only meant to be a quick one, however he was so invested in my story, and the sport, he rescheduled his next 2 phone calls to hear more! The second phone call was the same, however it was more like an interview. He wanted to know more about me and my family’s involvement in the sport, and find out more about the welfare side of things. The third call was only a quick one to check a few details… then we heard nothing for another month.
The main question throughout the whole process was ‘What would you say to the people opposed to greyhound racing’, to which I responded in the same way. Visit the tracks and experience the atmosphere of a evening meeting, visit the kennels, look at the condition the dogs are in, see how happy they are and the main one; look at the GBGB injury stats from the past 4 years and the improvements.
Winning
When the winners were announced in June, nothing was done. No contact from the BBC, no emails, phone calls, nothing. Everything went silent until early October when someone from BBC Look North finally got in touch! She told us (myself and my mum) that the piece will now be worked on, and will be broadcast on BBC Look North, and the BBC website! Then everything went silent again.
This second period of silence helped me plan what I wanted the piece to look like. I could see the finished product before it had even started. I had a vague plan saved in my phone notes, with key lines and photos/videos to go with it. The excitement was growing, and I was looking forward to the process finally starting.
The lady from BBC Look North got in touch again in late October requesting a zoom call. In this call, she reiterated her previous comment about the broadcast and written piece. She then requested I planned 6 scenes for the filmed piece, each about 30 seconds long. The process had finally started, and we were finally getting the piece filmed!!
Planning
Planning was so much harder than I had imagined. The BBC lady had given me a template for a storyboard style plan which I had never done before. It took me a few weeks to get this finalised, thus delaying filming. Alongside the storyboard, I did a written plan, with a rough script to go with it. I got slightly overexcited however and made it way too long (40 minutes at least rather than the ideal 3-4 mins). The storyboard changed overtime, however none of it was used! We used it to help get ideas on what we could film, but the actual storyboard and script was scrapped (This may be repurposed for a solo project in the future)
Once I had sent off the storyboard and script, we arranged some rough dates in November when filming could take place. These dates were originally at the start of November. However, a film crew wasn’t available these days so we moved filming to the middle of November.
Filming
At a Thursday meeting at Owlerton Greyhound Stadium, I met with the 1 man film crew, and discussed what I wanted it to look like. We then watched a couple of races. He had never been before. However, from his visit, he became hooked and wanted to go again!
Filming took around 4 hours, which is unbelievable when you realise how short the final product really is! The majority of filming was of me talking about my experience of the sport, being a young female within a ‘male dominated’ sport, and the joys of ownership. However, I had a trainer onboard to interview, who mentioned training, rehoming and the increase in welfare standards over the years. So in terms of advertising the sport, all bases seem to be covered.
We had a greyhound we followed throughout the piece, a 4 year old D1/2 sprinter called Clockwork Doll (Kate). This greyhound has always had a special place in my heart despite not being owned by us! We have been great friends with the owners from our first day at Owlerton, making Kate’s feature in the piece even more special to me. The stunning white and brindle bitch also won on the day of filming, with the owner being there to watch!
The final product
The final product will be released this Tuesday (05/12/23) as long as there is no breaking news and is only 2 and a half minutes long! Despite it being incredibly short, it is crammed full of promotion and explains the benefits of racing.
The filmed piece features a Blue Cross spokeswoman, explaining why they are calling for an end to greyhound racing. This helps show both sides of the story. However, the words of both myself and the trainer interviewee, plus everything I showed completely outweighs this, further increasing the piece’s effectiveness in promoting the sport.
Kate (Clockwork Doll) is shown for almost all the piece, both on parade and after her winning race. This allows viewers outside the sport to see how incredibly fit the breed is, and how they WANT to race.
The piece highlighted my experience as a young female in the sport, hopefully encouraging other young people to get to their local track for the racing and potentially get involved in the future. It shows the sport isn’t just for men, and women are equally as successful as trainers, kennelhands, owners, and track staff. The sport is for everyone to enjoy and get involved in.
Overall Experience
Overall, from winning the competition to the final product being released, it has been rocky to say the least. Lots of waiting was involved, which occasionally became very stressful and frustrating. However, once it got into full swing with the planning and filming I thoroughly enjoyed the process, and would highly recommend it. The team at the BBC have been very helpful throughout.
I cant wait for the filmed piece to be released! I hope everyone enjoys, but more importantly, I hope it attracts some new, younger, faces to the tracks!
