STEM Mass Media
Description
Applying leadership and 21st century skills, participants utilize written and verbal communication skills designed for a mass audience to convey a news story revolving around a designated theme in both a video broadcast (preliminary) and a digital written format (semifinals). Participants must demonstrate a strong understanding of journalism etiquette and common practices of the field.
2025-26 Theme
Headline: The green past of the Saharo-Arabian Desert: Cave deposits reveal recurring humid periods over eight million years
Background: A new study led by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry has uncovered compelling evidence that the Saharo-Arabian Desert—today one of Earth’s driest regions—experienced multiple periods of significantly wetter climate over the past eight million years. Researchers analyzed speleothems, or cave deposits, from seven Saudi Arabian caves and found chemical clues indicating repeated monsoonal rainfall that transformed the desert into a habitable landscape for thousands of years at a time.
These wetter intervals likely enabled the migration of mammals, including early human ancestors, between Africa and Eurasia—despite the desert’s role as a natural barrier. The study highlights the powerful influence of climate change on human and animal history, as well as the importance of cave formations as records of ancient weather patterns. Using isotopic analysis and radiometric dating, the team also discovered that the decline of monsoonal rainfall was caused by long-term cooling in the Northern Hemisphere, which shifted rain belts southward.
Prompt: Based on the following headline, develop a news broadcast that includes an introduction of the headline, a summary of the information in the news story, and an explanation of potential future implications of the highlighted work.
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1079999
Tesla STEM HS, Team 2, 2025 1st Place
Event Resources
EVENT EXAMPLES
Click on the links to the right to view past entries for this event! 2025 State 1st Place Winner
Event Deadlines
January 23, 2025
Students will need their Participant ID number, and password, from their advisor. Only the team captain will be able to upload the file.
Students submit completed script of Video News Broadcast as a pdf file for scoring. Scripts will be scored on research, content and story line. updated 10/8/24
March 2025
This is an Early Entry event!
Completed entry due by 5:00 pm, March 14!
Semifinalists will participate in press conference, and develop a digital (written) news article (max. 500 words)
Washington TSA Rules
To compete, students must:
Belong to a currently affiliated TSA chapter
Be registered (by their TSA advisor) for competition by December 20, 2024 ($30)
Compete in the January 23, 2025 virtual competition (see individual event pages for details)
Be selected as a top competitor in their event(s) and invited to participate at State
Number of competitors is dependent on specific event
Qualifying competitor lists will be published by February 10, 2025
State Conference registration week February 24-28, 2025 (see state conference page for details)
At the state level, 3 teams per chapter may compete.
Additional Information
Event Coordinator: Jennifer Smith, jsmith@washingtontsa.org
Event Manager: Kari Potter, kpotter@washingtontsa.org
