JUST as in a newsroom, deadlines loomed, pressure mounted and temperatures rose. And yes, equipment failed.
Fifty student competitors of the fourth annual Straits Times Schools Newspaper Competition faced the hair-pulling problems of a real newsroom throughout Tuesday night into the early morning yesterday.
Ten teams from finalist secondary schools went all out to produce four pages of news - which they had to complete within 24 hours - to win the top prize of an editorial internship at The Straits Times and a $3,000 cash prize.
The teams interviewed Mr Teo Ser Luck, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development, Youth and Sports, at a mock press conference on the Youth Olympic Games.
They then put together a photo essay on police trainees at the Choa Chu Kang Home Team Academy, and interviewed Sports School table- tennis player Isabelle Li. They also surveyed 30 of their peers regarding pocket money.
Most returned from the day's assignments by 8pm, with the last two - Yu- ying Secondary School's Jonathan Toh, 16, and Muhammad Shafiq, 15 - returning at 9.30pm, just 30 minutes before curfew.
Around midnight, contestants were treated to some much-needed doughnuts. At 2am, bags of snacks emerged: potato chips, instant mashed potato, cup noodles and a selection of teas, coffee and Milo.
Nerves frayed only later.
In the wee hours of the morning, a member of the Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) team snapped at 15-year-old editor David Aw: 'I need you to put on your creative mind and think of a solution right now!'
A competition veteran, David was involved in the contest for the third consecutive year.
'I know when people will start getting cranky and how to deal with it,' he said.
His edge, he added, stemmed from 'knowing how much coffee to drink'.
At 2.30am, the team from first-time participant St Joseph's Institution started a heated debate over what should go on Page1.
But it was the team from Cedar Girls' Secondary School which had it worst.
At 4am - six hours to deadline - member Felicia Choo's computer crashed, erasing an entire article.
The Secondary3 student, aged 14, 'was just too busy to panic'.
Despite being upset at managing to salvage only three sentences, she retyped everything.
The setback earned the team an extra hour to finish. By 11am, Felicia said: 'I'm just glad it's over.'
The winners will be announced on Dec 12.
To catch more of the night's action, log on to RazorTV (www.razor.tv) tonight.
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