Crinkling News was Australia’s only national newspaper for young readers.

It was founded in 2016 and published a total of 81 issues. Over two years, Emma Marie Horn contributed 150 articles and worked as kids’ contribution editor, managing the junior reporters who were aged between seven and 14. She also edited the reviews and opinion pages, and managed the online operations.

Front pages

Highlights from the 150+ articles written between April 2016 and December 2017

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Digital Design

As well as being a reporter, Emma Marie Horn also worked as the digital producer and social media manager for Crinkling News. This involved editing the weekly online edition of the newspaper and producing content for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

During Australia’s first national media literacy conference for kids in November 2018, she managed to increase multiplatform reach and engagement by 1,000 per cent. Through her strategy, the #MediaMe conference tag trended on Twitter in Sydney for one full day, and the national debate was viewed on Facebook by 17,000 active users.

Facebook Snap Poll

To increase engagement on Facebook, she devised a series of ‘snap polls’ designed to create conversation around issues featured in the weekly newspaper.

Snapchat and Instagram Stories

Junior reporters aged between eight and 14 periodically took over Crinkling News‘ social media accounts, to provide an insider’s view of their work as they interviewed high profile people such as politicians, authors, and celebrities.

One week prior to each social take-over, Emma Marie Horn designed reminder videos and graphics that were posted on the newspaper’s Instagram and Snapchat Stories. The reminders helped to drive excitement for the event and boosted engagement during the take-overs themselves.