How to win STARS on the Hub!

There's more to being on the Hub than just winning stars - we want you to enjoy giving your opinion, reading other people's ideas and discussing big questions with other students - but it is always nice to receive a star! Here's everything you need to know about getting them...
How do we choose when to award stars?
Your teacher might have told you about our Burnet News Club skills:

...and all based on solid knowledge. You can read more about these skills here!
We award stars when a BNC skill has been clearly shown.
So how do I show these skills?

You might have seen this in your classroom. It's called our News Literacy Framework and it helps you and your teachers see how you can show these skills. It tells you what kind of knowledge you need to know about the news, and has 8 levels for each of the 4 skills - to show you how you can get better!
Each skill begins with Foundations, which we look for in primary school students.
For secondary school students, we look for Hub contributions that show you are on the path to becoming an expert!
Do posts get more stars?
No. In fact, it's a lot easier to show these skills through comments because that is when you are responding to other people.
If you do want to write a post, you should always read the Hub before you write on the Hub! Some people might have written a post on something similar to your idea. If it has already been written about you can write a comment and join the discussion that is already going on. Only write a new post if your idea has definitely not come up before and is totally new. This kind of post is called a discussion starter.
What makes a good post?
Good posts bring in new ideas. You might ask a question, share some research or write about your new thoughts. You should always write in your own words and include the link to any websites you use for research. Remember, good posts are the ones that will get everyone else talking!
What makes a good comment?
Good comments add to the discussion by replying to another club member or asking a question or sharing a point of view. The BEST comments clearly explain your point of view and tell everybody what you are thinking.
Comments (137)
03 Oct 2019
Thank you. This helped me to understand that commenting on other people's work is better so you can explain your reasons on what you think about something.
Yeah this may help me understand the whole thingπππ
04 Oct 2019
Thanks this helped me a lot
06 Oct 2019
Thanks this helped a lot.
06 Oct 2019
Thank you. This helped me a lot
06 Oct 2019
Thanks it helped me a ton
07 Oct 2019
This is helpful because now I'll do more comments.
07 Oct 2019
Thank you Tom, this helped me to get a further understanding of how to write my posts.
*on
07 Oct 2019
Thank you very much Tom because it was a helpful post and it can help me by improving my confidence more and on my skills.Also, how do you post a thinking question?
You're very welcome! The Thinking Question comes from us, but if you have an interesting question you can make it a post as long as you..
Have checked it hasn't been asked before
Give your own opinion in a longer, more developed form than a comment
Explained why you've asked it
Fantastic guide Tom!
I found that the Economist Educational foundation run lots of other things like Agora. Whats the difference?
Agora is a one-day event where you take part in activities to do with a breaking news story. Ask your teacher whether your school has signed up to take part!
07 Oct 2019
Hello. On the subject of stars, how do you place how high up someone is on the Leaderboard if they have the same amount of stars as another person? It's just that I have noticed that some other users have the same amount of stars as me, and some are on higher positions and some lower. I was just wondering how you'd do it...!
Hi content_lemon, that's a very good question and I don't actually know. I can see it's not alphabetical. Although you might be level now as the year goes on people will become more spread out and it will rarely happen to be level, so I wouldn't worry about it.
Thank you for answering, Tom. It was simply a thought that sprung to my mind, and I couldn't find the answer by myself! :)
07 Oct 2019
Thank you.This helped a lot.
07 Oct 2019
this has helped me with my speaking up, scepticism, reasoning and open mindedness skills a lot.
08 Oct 2019
Thanks Tom :)
08 Oct 2019
Thank you it really helped me especially that my teacher told us about it today. In class I said that I am good at speaking up because whenever I have time to go on a computer I will straight away go on Burnet news club and comment about some thing that I think I can comment about.
That's great! Let's see if you can win a star for writing a comment that shows one of the news literacy skills.
That's great to hear, comfortable_flute!
09 Oct 2019
thank you very much i now know how to get stars!
Thank you so much for this amazing post.
:)(:
11 Oct 2019
Thank you very much, Tom I really appreciated the advice
17 Oct 2019
Now I try and write posts but I definitely write comments to try and achieve stars! :D
Great stuff!
19 Oct 2019
I never knew how to earn stars until I read this article.thanks!
20 Oct 2019
I will tell other people new things about HongKong
22 Oct 2019
wow, tom your so usefull! I hope that your statements are true because I aprecciate what time and effort you put into these! thank you for all the helpfull things you have done for us
22 Oct 2019
it is really good information too! π
30 Oct 2019
Thanks for the information Tom
30 Oct 2019
Thank you for the information it is very interesting Tom
06 Nov 2019
This is very helpful as a lot of my friends have been earning stars and I wanted to know how to do it.
08 Nov 2019
That is very helpful. :) thanks
08 Nov 2019
I listened to many comments I think this is really got to be shown to everyone thanks Tom!
08 Nov 2019
Also l agree to evryone
08 Nov 2019
Hi Tom, I have been trying to earn some stars but unfortunately I have 0 stars. Everyone else in my class has loads of stars and I do not understand. If you could tell me that would be exquisite.
Hi persuasive_opportunity, I noticed some of your earlier comments were quite short so need to be a bit more developed to earn stars. Your most recent one about Trump's Space Force was a big improvement and I've just asked you a question about it to help it be more understandable.
09 Nov 2019
thank you very much for helping me I am so happy I took part of burnet news club
09 Nov 2019
thank you; really helped me understand
09 Nov 2019
Thanks Tom for this good note I hope every agrees it
You're welcome!
12 Nov 2019
This is going to help me because when i post i post my opinion and what i think, i don't think about the skills at all for some reason, its troubling to use it and when i post i think on trying to get stars.
12 Nov 2019
(thank you please respond cause i dont get it often)
12 Nov 2019
Thanks Tom for helping me
13 Nov 2019
Thanks now I understand
15 Nov 2019
Thanks I really understand
15 Nov 2019
Wow thanks for helping me. I will try to use these skills in later posts.
16 Nov 2019
Wow! Thank you so much staff of the BNC. I am new here and I now understand how to win stars on the Hub. Does your final piece, post, and comment need to be detailed in order to win stars??
Good question, inspired_cicada. Comments do not have to be detailed to the point they become long - but show the BNC skills. Posts should be longer and more detailed, as you are starting off a discussion and you need to provide ideas and reasons for people to agree / disagree with. Final pieces are generally most detailed, as this is the last thing you do which brings together everything.
18 Nov 2019
that post is very helpful thank you!
18 Nov 2019
Hi, this is my first time and can you get stars for creativity?
We always welcome creativity and this is often shown through your speaking up, reasoning and open-mindedness! You need to be creative to see from another point of view!
20 Nov 2019
I sometimes feel like I am using them when I comment but I don't get stars for it
thank you this was very useful Tom @ the BNC
21 Nov 2019
on the NASA make a motto when would you know when you've won and where and if you come in the top ten where would you see it and how???
22 Nov 2019
Thank you this has really helped me in understanding how you win stars.
You're welcome!
22 Nov 2019
I know how to get stars know so thank you for that
23 Nov 2019
This doesn't really link to the idea to the idea of this post but I didn't know anywhere else I could say this. You always say you publish/approve comments and posts Monday-Friday but I had a couple of comments and they got published on a Sunday. I was just wondering if you do publish them on weekends or if that was just a one off. Sorry if this bothers you, I just wanted to know.
It's almost always Monday-Friday, so this was a one-off!
25 Nov 2019
I will try my best
26 Nov 2019
Thanks for writing this, it was really helpful!
26 Nov 2019
Oh! Now I understand
26 Nov 2019
I keep trying really hard to get stars but I don't have any yet, but I will include what you have told me. Thank you.
02 Dec 2019
thank you Tom :D
03 Dec 2019
thanks for clearing it up
04 Dec 2019
thank you Tom!!!!
04 Dec 2019
Thank you. This has really made me think!
04 Dec 2019
Thank you that help me so much i hope i get some stars
05 Dec 2019
nice and thanks mate π±
06 Dec 2019
this happened to me before my name was on the leader board on one morning and when I got back it was gone I was very upset this might of happened to a lot of people too so maybe on our profile it can tell us what place we are in the leader board so we know were to improve
This is easy to explain, adaptable_beetle, as the leaderboard only shows the top 10 so obviously others had gained stars which meant your name dropped down a few places. Having the ability to see a longer leaderboard It's a good suggestion though, and we are looking at making it possible.
06 Dec 2019
Thanks Tom! Now I can improve my comments using the 4 skills, and reach for the leaderboard!
09 Dec 2019
Thanks Tom! This was so helpful!
You're welcome!
09 Dec 2019
π
09 Dec 2019
this is so helpful, thanks! if you read this comment and are wondering how to get stars, my teacher told the class to make their comments atleast 4 sentences long and trust me our class already has 10 stars in about 1-2 weeks! so if everyone using Burnet news club did this just imagine how many stars you could be getting! If your comments are good enough then who knows, you might even make it to the leader board.
i read it
That is some really good inspiration thank you
Thanks for great inspiration reliable_fig
11 Dec 2019
I've learnt that it is always easier to find out facts before you comment OR post an issue.
That's wise advice!
Thank you very much
12 Dec 2019
I finally get it!!!!!!!!!! :0
12 Dec 2019
good reason. i will try to get more stars. :3
13 Dec 2019
Thanks so much I have a much better knowledge about how to do and make comments and posts
13 Dec 2019
Thanks, this was a handy post that you wrote, it helped me gain some knowledge on how to write/make better comments and my opinion.
13 Dec 2019
thanks for the advice it really helps , you are the best
19 Dec 2019
Thnx! This advice could get me winning actual stars! πππ Iβve not got any stars yet on BNC. Fingers crossed I can get stars now Iβve seen this.
31 Dec 2019
Thanks that you told me because i don't really write comment's .
09 Jan 2020
thank you this helped me a lot to understand how not just posts matter
09 Jan 2020
Thank you for making this it really helped me understand
10 Jan 2020
Thanks BNC!
14 Jan 2020
Thanks BNC! This is a great help!
14 Jan 2020
thanks Tom now i understand how to get stars
14 Jan 2020
This was very usefull!
I now might get stars!
14 Jan 2020
Than you so much I had no clue before I was always wondering why I had dent won nanny stars plus you came to my school thank you!
14 Jan 2020
Thanks,this was very helpful
I like burnet news club I think scepticism reasoning speaking up and open mindness is important because is about your opinion
Yes, that is very true
21 Jan 2020
thanks everyone
21 Jan 2020
When I write a comment I always think I could improve but i never get enough information
24 Jan 2020
I only get stars on the competitions . Why?
24 Jan 2020
thank you now i know what the stars do
24 Jan 2020
how meany stars do you get when you post 10 good comments about the issues
Thanks for the question. Stars aren't awarded by amount of comments, but if you show a great example of one of the BNC skills: reasoning, open-mindedness, scepticism, speaking up, and also backing opinions up with knowledge.
28 Jan 2020
Good
01 Feb 2020
Thanks for this post Tom it was a great help because I was wondering how to get stars before I read this
01 Feb 2020
What do you get if you win a competition?
03 Feb 2020
Tom, why hasn't my comment been published?
We do our best to publish as soon as possible, memorable_orchard. In this case it was written at the weekend and so wasn't published until the next working day (Monday).
Oh, thank you I was just perplexed as my other comment was published but not the other one.
04 Feb 2020
this is soo helpful thanks
04 Feb 2020
thank you
05 Feb 2020
i think it is hard to get one star because how i try i never get a star and i think i will still try .
11 Feb 2020
Information is useful - Thank you!
12 Feb 2020
Thank you tom!This is very helpful this will encourage me to do more post and go on burnet news club more!
23 Feb 2020
Thanks a lot Tom! I could really use this advice. This encourages me even more to post on the Hub
26 Feb 2020
Thanks now I can earn stars!!
03 Mar 2020
Thank you so much Tom, this has really inspired me to write more posts!!!
πππππππ
09 Mar 2020
Thank you so much. This is actually helped me. Using these points I've won a competition! Your points actually really help me! Thank you so so much.
Well done for winning that competition, caring_crab. Richly deserved!
15 Mar 2020
It is almost 4 weeks into the new issue and when I check "Wall of Honour" it only comes up with the Space Exploration and Hong Kong Thought Leaders. Are we not doing them anymore or it is coming soon?
by @succinct__leaves
Hi! The Thought Leader was Birchwood Primary School for the last Issue. They haven't had their visit from the BNC team yet, but when they do it'll be posted here.
19 Mar 2020
I have just stated posting and I have quickly learnt that posting or commenting on peoples post is realy good and stress your opinion no matter what anybody else may think but keep it PG .
24 Mar 2020
Hi Tom, because our class is not on the leaderboard yet I was wondering if you could tell me how many stars we have please ?
You have 60 stars!
24 Mar 2020
thanks
31 Mar 2020
sorry to bother you again but I was wondering if you could tell me how many stars our class has now please.
65!
31 Mar 2020
thank you so much
13 May 2020
So you mean more comments with new ideas give stars?
Sometimes, depending on the explanation and reasons given.
26 Nov 2020
What is the hardest way to earn stars
15 Dec 2020
What other tips do you have to earn stars
ππββββββ
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