HIR Article Blueprint & Defense Day Sheet
The HIR Academic Writing Contest rewards journalistic discipline — an 800–1,200-word ceiling means every section needs a budget before you draft a sentence. This is the worksheet our students fill in before drafting, plus the prep sheet finalists use for Defense Day.
Prints on two pages · A4 or Letter
HIR Article Blueprint
Academic Writing Contest · 800–1,200 words · AP style
Step 1 — The angle
a topic is not an angle
Your topic — the region, event, or trend
Your angle — the one specific claim your article advances
Why now? The news hook
Why should a reader outside the region care?
Step 2 — The lede workshop
draft three, keep one
Lede A — scene or detail
Lede B — striking fact or number
Lede C — sharp claim
Step 3 — Word budget
budget before you draft — the ceiling is 1,200
Step 4 — AP style quick reference
the copy conventions HIR editors expect
- Numbers
- Spell out one through nine; use numerals for 10 and above
- Percent
- Use the % sign with a numeral (4%, not four percent)
- Serial comma
- No Oxford comma in simple series (red, white and blue)
- Dates
- Abbreviate months with specific dates (Jan. 2, 2027); spell out months standing alone
- Titles
- Capitalise formal titles only directly before a name
- Attribution
- "Said" beats "stated", "opined", or "claimed"
- Acronyms
- Spell out on first reference; avoid alphabet soup thereafter
Step 5 — Self-edit checklist
- The angle is stated within the first two paragraphs, not saved for the end.
- Every argument section earns its word budget — no section exists to show research.
- At least one credible source anchors each factual claim, and quotes carry attribution.
- The counterargument is real, and answered rather than dismissed.
- The close answers "so what?" without repeating the lede.
- Word count sits inside 800–1,200; AP style conventions checked against Step 4.
- Every sentence is yours — AI-written text is prohibited and screened for.
Step 6 — Defense Day prep
finalists defend the article aloud
Your thesis in fifteen seconds, from memory
The three hardest questions a sceptical judge could ask
The evidence you can cite from memory — names, numbers, dates
What you would change if you wrote it again (honesty impresses)
How to use this blueprint
- 01
Budget words before drafting
Fill in Step 3 before you write a sentence. An overlength draft hides weak structure — cutting 400 words at the end feels like editing, but it is really discovering, too late, which sections never earned their place.
- 02
Write three ledes, choose one cold
Draft all three ledes in Step 2, sleep on them, and pick the strongest the next morning. The lede you love at midnight is rarely the one that survives a cold read.
- 03
Run the self-edit two days early
Work through Step 5 two days before the deadline, not the night before. The checklist finds structural problems, and structural problems need drafting time to fix, not polishing time.
- 04
Rehearse Defense Day aloud
If shortlisted, answer the Step 6 questions out loud with a timer running — not in your head. Fluency under pressure is a physical skill, and silent rehearsal does not build it.
The medal maths
The contest awards medals by percentile, not quota: Gold goes to the global top 3%, Silver to the top 10%, Bronze to the top 20%. Read those numbers carefully — four in five entrants leave with nothing, so a competent article is not enough. The medal line is drawn where discipline shows: a real angle, budgeted sections, clean AP copy. Rules and cycle dates are on the official HIR contest page. For other competitions, browse our more free resources.
- Eligibility
- grades 7–12 (Years 7–13)
- Winter deadline
- January 2, 2027
- Length
- 800–1,200 words
80% of our HIR cohort won Silver or higher
The blueprint is the frame; the coaching is the craft. Our HIR preparation course pairs editorial teaching with supervised drafting from angle to submission — and Defense Day rehearsal for finalists.