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Student journalists honoured at awards

º£½ÇÖ±²¥â€™s best and brightest student journalists have been honoured at an annual awards night recognising their achievements.

For the second consecutive year, the School of Arts & Media gave out awards to exceptional students, with prizes including work placements with national titles such as the Daily Mail, the Mirror and Sky Sports, and popular local titles including the Evening Gazette, Northern Echo and Hartlepool Mail. The awards ceremony, sponsored by , took place ahead of the upcoming Creative º£½ÇÖ±²¥ event, which will celebrate the hard work, dedication and creativity of students from the School of Arts & Media.

Paul Bailey, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, said: 'These awards recognise the hard work and excellent calibre of our current journalism students.

'I would like to thank all of the media organisations who generously contributed prizes to this celebration of our students’ achievements.'

º£½ÇÖ±²¥â€™s journalism graduates have secured jobs at leading media organisations, including Sky and the BBC, as well as with national and regional newspapers. A total of 75% of 2012 journalism graduates were either working in the media or in paid internships three months after graduating – more than 50% above the national average.

The University also offers a chance to work on its unique brand Tside, which includes a website, newspaper and TV show.

Third year Multimedia Journalism student Sasha James was ecstatic to win the Northern Echo award for Features Writing, following her work on the paper.

She said: 'I'm very happy to have won this award. I was also nominated for another, but because of my work as features editor on Tside, I was rooting for this one.'

Other winners included second year student Lucy Moody, who won the Evening Gazette award for Multimedia Journalist of the Year.

Lucy, who is studying BA (Hons) Journalism, said: 'This year at º£½ÇÖ±²¥ I've had the opportunity to work freelance at BBC Tees and I've really enjoyed the crossover between professional and university work.'

Third year Multimedia Journalism student Ross Peters won two awards on the night, including the Academic Prize, which means he’ll be undertaking a week-long placement at Press Gazette.

Ross said: 'It feels really, really good - to have been given two awards is a huge honour.

'My advice to anyone studying journalism at º£½ÇÖ±²¥ would be to throw yourself into it. I’ve grabbed every opportunity that I can while I’ve been here.'

FULL LIST OF WINNERS

NCTJ Prize, sponsored by NCTJ and the Daily Mail – Sam Howitt

Academic Prize, sponsored by Press Gazette – Ross Peters

º£½ÇÖ±²¥ Prize – Ross Peters, Megan Fallows and Alice Hawley

Best Final Project, sponsored by Colewood Internet – Off The Woodwork (Dan Bennett, Chris Donald, Graham Corking, Alex Larkin and Rob Munro)

Scoop of the Year, sponsored by Daily Mirror – Rob Munro

Multimedia Journalist of the Year, sponsored by Evening Gazette – Lucy Moody

Blogger of the Year, sponsored by The Fleet Street Fox – Leonie Garlick for My Little Charitees and Matthew Brown for Northern Tone (tie)

News Reporter, sponsored by Hartlepool Mail – Nathan Lee and Natalie Devonshire (tie)

Features Writer, sponsored by The Northern Echo – Sasha James

Sports Reporter, sponsored by Sky Sports – Rob Munro

Lifestyle Reporter, sponsored by Fabulous Magazine – Kathryn Heward

Entertainment Reporter, sponsored by Time Out Magazine – Alex Larkin

Social Media Content Producer, sponsored by Tangerine PR – Cara Sterio

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