HEYWIRE's Blog

HEYWIRE is a chance for you to tell your story.

Sure, you might not have mobile phone service, and yes we can't see your face under that big akubra and through the blow-flies. But Heywire is about breaking the stereotypes, keeping it real and giving a voice to rural and regional youth.

We do this by:

• Letting young people from rural and regional Australia take over the ABC and broadcast their stories on ABC Radio: Local Radio, Triple J, Radio National, Radio Australia and ABC Online;

• and by having a yearly forum in Canberra: a chance for the Heywire winners from around Australia to come together for a life-changing event and discuss the issues facing young people.

This year we are asking potential Heywirers from around Australia to put on their creative caps and to submit a piece to Heywire in one of the following forms:

• Write:

a script of up to 400 words in a story suitable for radio or television.

• Shoot:

a series of 20 photos which tell a story.

• Film:

a 2 minute short-film. It could be shot on the best camera you can find, or even your mobile phone. The quality does not matter. It is the idea and how your sell your idea.

• Record:

a 2 minute MP3 about your life.

Whatever you produce, remember it needs to be:

• engaging and creative. You don't need to have any media making experience: only good ideas!

• a story that can work on either radio, television or online

• TRUE. We only want non-fiction stories that relate to life in regional or rural Australia. (This is not a creative writing competition!)

To participate in Heywire you need to be:

• ACTUALLY young: 16 to 22 years of age to be precise, and from regional or rural Australia

• willing to share your thoughts and your experience with a national ABC audience

• able to tell your story in words, pictures or sound and to submit it to the Heywire website

• ready to enjoy the start or the rest of your life - an all-expenses paid week in Canberra, as part of the Heywire Youth Issues Forum in February 2008.

TOKEN YOUTH NEED NOT APPLY.

If your story idea is selected…you win the prize of a lifetime (almost)…

• National fame because the ABC broadcasts your story

• A trip to go 'Heywire in Canberra' at the Australian Institute of Sport with other Heywire winners from all over Australia at the Heywire Youth Issues Forum