Young Reporter Scheme celebrates 15 years at annual award ceremony

The awards were hosted by Sean Duggan and Diana Jarvis with guest speakers Toby Granville, Editorial Director of Newsquest and Monica Charsley a previous Young Reporter winner and now a working journalist for The Mirror.

Charsley said: “I feel so fortunate to have been given the chance to speak about my own journey since completing Young Reporter in 2016. I’d like to say a huge congratulations to everyone who has completed the scheme and for producing some brilliant stories. Keep writing and making people smile through your words. I look forward to see what is next for this year’s rising stars.” 

There were thirty-one awards in total, presented to students from Years 10 through to 13 and two of those students were presented with the Top Reporter Award, one from each age group.

Winners were also invited to Kingston University in May as part of their prize, to experience life as an undergraduate student.

Working with university students, they produced an online newspaper and the day operated as if they were real reporters working in a busy newsroom.

Libby Thompson, one of the Top Reporters, said: “The Young Reporter Scheme has given me a unique opportunity to experience journalism first hand. It has been incredibly rewarding to see my work on the Young Reporter’s website and to create a portfolio of my own articles.

“The Kingston University day gave the winners a real insight into the inner workings of a newsroom, and it was great to collaborate with the other young reporters.”

The prizes for the winners of this year, were awarded for breaking news articles, local events, and a host of other categories, all encapsulating life as a journalist.

Rosemary Gray was the other Top Reporter and Julia Glozier from Colchester Sixth Form College, who has run the scheme for a few years, said: “We are very proud of Rosie’s achievement as a Top Reporter and the whole experience has been really beneficial for her.”

Open to all students throughout the UK, this scheme is an invaluable asset for young people to include on their CVs as every article is published and they can build up a portfolio of their work for the future.

Today more and more universities expect extra experiences in addition to good grades and this scheme provides real life experience on a completely different level.

It gives students a real insight into what it is like to be a journalist. They do the scheme for eight months and during those months, they get the opportunity to cover a number of events, interviews, theatre productions and write up about those events for their local paper. It is very exciting for them to have their own byline and brush shoulders with people they would not normally meet.

The registration scheme is now open for the 2023/24 academic year and schools and students wishing to take part, should log onto the Young Reporter website www.youngreporter.co.uk/registration and fill in the form.