The YMCA Youth Press Gallery is an exciting opportunity for young people who are interested in media and journalism to tell the stories of the Youth Parliament of Victoria.
The YMCA Youth Press Gallery is program for young people aged between 16-25 currently studying, or who have an interest in, political journalism, photography, or filming to gain valuable experience serving as the Press Gallery for the YMCA Victoria Youth Parliament program.
How does it work?
Press Gallery participants will be given access to a range of training opportunities from experts in the journalism industry, developing skills that are highly sought in journalists. Participants will also be given the opportunity to meet and network with professional Victorian and national journalists.
During the three sitting days of Youth Parliament, the group will work intensively in the chambers of Parliament House. This will include developing and publishing articles on the program and the issues being debated for print and online media outlets as well as interviewing participants and managing social media, producing and editing footage of debates, and photographing participants.
Press Gallery members have had articles successfully published in a range of media outlets across Victoria including;
- ABC
- SBS
- Crikey
- Macedon Ranges Leader
- Bendigo Weekly
- SYN FM
You can check out the Youth Press Gallery website to see articles previous Press Gallery participants have published. You can also check out our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.
The roles
In order for the best coverage of Youth Parliament to be obtained, the YMCA Youth Press Gallery recruits for the following roles:
- News reporters
- Digital journalists
- Videographers
- Photographers
Ashleigh's story
I’ve been pretty involved with the student and youth media scene in Melbourne over the past few years, so I’d heard a lot about Youth Press Gallery before I applied at the start of the year. As someone who’s obsessed with journalism, politics and youth issues, I was itching to join the program I’d heard so many great stories about.
Sliding into the press gallery seats in Parliament House for the first time was both a humbling and empowering experience. The backs of the chairs displayed the plaques of news organisations such as the ABC, the Age and the Herald Sun, and the desks were engraved with the names of renowned journalists of the past and present.Ashleigh, 2019 Youth Press Gallery participant
"Before joining Youth Press Gallery, I was quite nervous about pitching to media outlets. While I had a lot of experience in student and youth media, I’d never been published outside of those realms. Through Youth Press Gallery, my articles were published in Crikey, Country News, the Dandenong Star Journal and the Endeavour Hills Hallam Doveton Star Journal.
"We often had cause for celebration, as someone would announce their pitch had been accepted by a media outlet or their work had just been published... There was never really any competition amongst the Youth Press Gallery team, just support and team work. We celebrated each other’s achievements as much as we celebrated our own.
"Through this program, the Youth Press Gallery team has not only been given the chance to flex our journalistic skills, but we were able to play an integral role in ensuring the youth of this state are not just heard inside the chambers of parliament, but in national media outlets such as the ABC and the SBS, and local ones such as the Macedon Ranges Leader and the Bendigo Weekly.
"If Youth Parliament and Youth Press Gallery are supposed to be models for the future, then the future of politics and journalism in this nation is looking pretty bright."