In an attempt to seek for trilingual radio announcers, the Humanities Faculty at Universitas Dian Nuswantoro (Udinus) hosted a competition entitled the Trilingual News (T-News). The competition was participated by 493 students from 21 different high schools.

Using the theme ‘The Journalist: Leader Creates Leader, Not Follower,’ the Trilingual News has currently reached its grand final stage, with students from five high schools managing to reach the grand finale. Those five high schools were SMK N 1 Demak, SMA N 1 Pekalongan, SMK N 1 Semarang, SMA N 7 Semarang, and SMA N 2 Batang. At the 2024 T-News, there were two featured categories, namely, News Content and News Presenter Categories.

In the News Content, all five participants were obliged to create news announcements in the form of videos using the pre-determined language. The results would later be presented before the judges.

Meanwhile, in the News Presenter, participants had to report news using three different languages: Javanese, English, and Japanese. The news report was conducted in a studio set in the auditorium on the third floor of the E building. Every single participant in the grand finale had successfully claimed triumphs over hundreds of other participants in the preliminary stage.

The T-News was officially opened by Dr. Kusni Ingsih, MM., the Vice Chancellor III of Student Affairs, by sounding a taiko. On the same occasion, she also congratulated all participants for reaching the grand finale. According to her, T-News was a good way to hone their talents and abilities in communicating using specific languages. Upon seeing the grand finale, Dr. Kusni praised those participants for their excellent English, Japanese, and Javanese speaking skills.

“We see that this event will illuminate these students’ future. In addition, we would also like to advise these participants to always keep learning languages, as languages are bridges connecting every nation on our beloved earth. Also, we have seen that they held certain qualities in their works,” she exclaimed.

There were six judges commenting several aspects of the performances presented by the participants. Those aspects mainly encompassed speech and content deliverance. Additionally, all six judges were tasked to judge participants of one of those two categories. In the News Presenter category, there were three judges, including Heri Pamungkas S.S., M.IKom. (the Director of TVKU), Dr. Sunardi, SS., M.Pd (the Head of the English Department at Udinus), and Dr. Bayu Aryanto SS., M.Hum (the Head of the Japanese Literature Department at Udinus).

Meanwhile, there were also three judges in the News Content category, namely, Amir Machmud NS (the Head of the Journalists Association of Central Java), Dr. Sosiawan M.H. (a member of the General Election Supervisory Agency), and Moch Agus Rochmatullah Gundar, ST., MT. (the Head of Ideological, Citizenship Knowledge, and National Character Affairs at the Unity of Nations and Politics of Central Java).

The Trilingual News was a product of collaboration tied by the Humanities Faculty at Udinus and TVKU. At the event, Dr. Raden Arief Nugroho SS, M.Hum (the Dean of the Humanities Faculty) also gave his greetings to the participants. The audience and supporters sparked their enthusiasm to support their respective schools at the T-News.

A PARTICIPANT: A student from a high school in Semarang showcasing her performance before the judges in the auditorium on the third floor of the E building

A participant from SMA N 7 Semarang, Viona Araihan Putri, admitted that she was glad to participate in T-News. In addition, she also claimed that journalism had always been interesting, and she also sought to be a reporter for the years to come.

“I was very pumped up for this competition. Moreover, the Trilingual News also obliged its participants to use all three languages, pushing me to routinely practice. Hopefully, T-News can be hosted annually for more years to come,” she concluded. (Humas Udinus/Alex. Foto: Humas Udinus)