Every year the Paly Journalism Department throws a student-run banquet to celebrate the accomplishments of the year’s journalism students. This being my first year as an official staff member of one of Paly’s publications, it was my first encounter with the aforementioned banquet.

On the electric pink flier I was given informing me about the banquet, I noted that because my last name started with the letter ‘S,’ I was supposed to bring a 20 oz soft drink to share for the potluck style picnic dinner. This seemed highly manageable, and thoughts of the banquet were soon replaced in my mind with thoughts of how I would pass my upcoming math test.

Now might be a nice time to inform the reader of the slight rivalry that exists between Paly publications. Almost daily phrases such as "Verde stinks," or "Campanile is the best," are written across the white board in our computer lab. Recently, the staff of Verde challenged the staff of Campanile to a capture the flag game, which turned into an Ultimate Frisbee game. Although there was no clear victor, as in the journalism world, both teams claimed to have been the best.

Although we are all friends in the outside world, there is a definite tension between the publications that drives our competitive spirit. Therefore, the notion of all of the publications joining together for a banquet is a very noble and seemingly impossible notion.

As the dawn of the day of the banquet approached, I found myself completely immersed in my schoolwork, and giving almost no thought to the approaching celebration. Although I was curious to see how the publications would interact with one another in a less stressful environment, I thought I merely had to wait out the hours to see.

My carefree thoughts vanished as I was informed merely four hours before the banquet was scheduled to begin that Verde, the school magazine, had not only gotten our advisor a present to be given at the banquet, but had also made a video that they planned to present at the banquet. Voice had done neither.

I began to panic. What could we do? We only had four hours to accomplish what we should have been planning for weeks! One thing was certain – we could not let Verde show us up. We needed to buy our advisor a better present, and make a better video.

In a mad scramble to organize, tasks were quickly delegated, and more of the staff became informed of our position. While some brainstormed a gift, senior and editor-in-chief Nathan Lui started taking pictures to put into a slide show. At least now we wouldn’t look sheepish next to Verde’s impressive preparations.

However at an intra-publication sleepover earlier this year, some staff members had thought of rewriting the lyrics to "Candy Shop" by 50 Cent into an ode to our advisor, entitled "Kandy Shop." Revised lyrics had been written earlier this year, and we decided that after school all available staff members would meet and try to make a music video for our rap song. We would have a video!

A special note suggests that Verde and Campanile, as print publications, are used to working with deadlines. Since we are an online publication, Voice, is more familiar with completing work as quickly as possible. Had we been more experienced in the field of working with a time constraint, perhaps the staff would have found the task of making an entire movie in approximately an hour and a half a little bit more daunting.

However, with the help of experienced filmmaker junior Alex Stikeleather, the music video shoot was underway. After an hour and a half of planning the video, finding equipment, and shooting, we began to edit the video at 6 p.m. – the time the banquet started. After rush editing for an hour, the finished DVD finally arrived at Paly at 7:20, over an hour past the start of the banquet.

With staff members and their parents of Verde, Voice and Campanile in the audience, we all anxiously anticipated the debut of our film. We were also curious to see the reactions from the other publications.

I personally was proud of the finished product. The staffs of the other publications seemed to enjoy the movie, and gave us a polite and hefty applause at its end. The Verde video received a similar reaction, as did the Voice and Campanile slideshows. All in all, the banquet was a success and al of the stress involved with making the video was worth it.

However this tale provided a much more significant moral. It was the competition to be better than the other publications that pushed Voice into really dedicating its energy and time into making this video. And in the end, Voice, Verde, and Campanile all had great presentations. Whose was best is in the eye of the beholder, but it was the competition that drove them all to be great.

Although it may be annoying to persistently read derogatory phrases on the whiteboard, the friendly competition between the publications is really beneficial in the end. So thank you Verde, Campanile, and In Focus. It is because of you that Voice is what it is today – in more ways than one.