What were you doing when you were 18?
If you're anything like me, the answer is: absolutely nothing worth writing about.
Thankfully for both the future of Australia and the direction of this story, we're in much safer hands.
Over the past month or so, I've had the privilege of meeting 13 inspiring young Australians, who are using everything from aviation to esports to create better-supported and more inclusive communities.
They're the winners of this year's ABC Heywire Trailblazer program, which shines a light on people aged 18 to 28 who are committed to making regional Australia even better.
I'm lucky enough to be covering the program as part of a partnership between Heywire and ABC News Digital, which was started in 2019 to ensure that you see these stories across the homepage, your social media feeds and more.
I work in the ABC's national online newsroom in Brisbane, and if there are two things I've learnt over the past couple of years, it's that our jobs are always evolving …
… and hell will freeze over before you find a fork in the office kitchen.
The mystery of the missing cutlery aside, it's an exciting space to work. Online platforms and audiences are constantly growing and changing, and as a team, the goal is to try to make sure that the ways we tell stories are too.
So without further ado (or any more bad jokes), I want to give you a bit of a look at some of the ways we're trying to do that with this year's Trailblazer program, and some of the things you can expect to see more of.
We're coming to you live
If you're an avid ABC reader, you may have noticed more live blogs on the news homepage in recent times (and if you're not, I promise our content gets better than this).
While we've used them for things like breaking news events, elections and sport for quite a while, when the COVID pandemic hit, they really became a staple of our day-to-day digital coverage.
Three years down the track, the audience appetite for live content hasn't gone away.
From real-time, on-the-ground reporting from the ABC's foreign correspondents, to Q&As with experts across the country, we're trying to expand what our live offerings look like.
So, what does all of this have to do with a group of inspiring young Aussies?
I'm glad you asked — let me segue …
Earlier this month, the winners of the Trailblazer program flew to Canberra for a week-long summit, where they had the opportunity to pitch their big ideas to politicians and community leaders in Parliament House.
It's a big deal, not only for these incredible young people, but for their projects and the communities that support them.
"For some people, it has meant increased funding to their regions, it's meant political lobbying to help the issues get raised more among all levels of government," says Taz Devadass, one of the Trailblazer facilitators and mentors.
"We've had Trailblazers go on to win national awards, we've had Trailblazers who now are full-time in their projects, when before it was just an idea."
This year, we wanted to make sure people outside of the nation's corridors of power could hear these innovative ideas for themselves.
For the first time, we were able to live blog the pitches in Parliament House alongside a YouTube live stream of the event that brought together behind-the-scenes content and interviews with the winners and mentors who make the program possible.
We were also able to use Live Moments to host a real-time Q&A about the Trailblazer program.
If you're not glued to the ABC News homepage (is such a thing possible?), you might not have come across them before — they're a pretty new feature, but something you can expect to see a lot more of in the coming months.
In short, they allow us to turn any article into a blog — in fact, here's one now:
Live Moment
Look back at how ABC readers and other Australians responded to this live moment.
Wondering what this is? Join us next time we're live and be part of the discussion.
This is a new feature we're exploring. Let us know what you think.
Reaching people on different platforms
While live blogs are helping us to share these ideas and projects with you in real-time, they're only one piece of the puzzle.
Trying to find new ways to tell stories means asking the question: what even is a story? Now, I know I sound like I've gotten really into philosophy recently, but hear me out …
There's a pretty good chance you're reading this on your phone. And if you're on your phone, there's an even better chance that I'm competing for your attention with other stories, websites, apps, or your aunt who's just figured out how to tag you on Facebook (go on, give her a like).
With so much content to choose from, and new developments happening all the time, it only makes sense that the way digital stories are presented — and the platforms they're presented on — is constantly changing too.
With some of these pieces, that's meant using different visual tools like odysseys or the cards format. In other cases, it's meant rethinking the idea of a traditional story altogether.
Take Louise Hobbs, one of our Trailblazer winners, for example. She's a high school teacher from Victoria's Wimmera region, who is on a mission to make sure country kids get the same access to education as those in the city.
"At a year 11 and 12 level, we currently don't have dedicated resources [for agriculture] — not even a textbook," she says.
"Could you imagine teaching or studying biology without a textbook?"
To put audiences to the test, Louise put together a pop quiz based on her classroom lessons, canvassing everything from the introduction of rabbits and toads, to the meaning of hypocalcaemia (spoiler alert: the answer is in the name).
The quiz was also translated for platforms like Instagram and Quick Stories — an interactive method of storytelling that allows audiences to tap-through at their own leisure.
It's part of a wider push to try to make sure we're meeting different audiences on different platforms, from the ABC News app to TikTok (you can watch the Trailblazers' in action below).
Every story needs a conclusion …
Now, I said earlier that there were two things I'd learned from working in online, but journos are notoriously bad with numbers and I need a conclusion, so here's your third: the best is yet to come.
Whether it's new ways to showcase data, interactive tools to get the audience involved, or the stuff that hasn't even been dreamed up yet, the future of digital journalism is really exciting.
Stay tuned for more content from the ABC Heywire and Trailblazer winners over the coming weeks — they've got some incredible stories to share with you all.
Anyway, that's enough out of me. I'll let the Trailblazers wrap things up 👇
