Journalism and Broadcast Journalism students awarded prizes by industry partners in the Centre for Broadcasting & Journalism awards

Graduating students from Nottingham Trent University’s (NTU) BA (Hons) Journalism and BA (Hons) Broadcast Journalism courses attended the annual Centre for Broadcasting & Journalism (CBJ) awards this year. The awards celebrate their achievements during the course, as well as connect them with industry partners before they graduate. Parents, staff and industry partners attended to see a total of 12 prizes given to a selection of exceptional students.

The highest performing students on each course were awarded a prize, based on the overall highest scores achieved for their modules in second and third year. Harry Webster won the award for BA (Hons) Journalism, while Katie Fenton was recognised for BA (Hons) Broadcast Journalism. Both are about to begin roles in industry, with Harry working as Communications Intern at Manchester City Football Club and Katie successfully gaining a place on the ITV News Traineeship scheme for ITV Wales.

We were delighted to invite industry partners to judge and present many of the awards. Mike Sassi, Editor of the Nottingham Post, presented the Best Online News Package to BA (Hons) Journalism student Will Roberts while Ben Green, Head of Digital at Sheffield Star judged the award for Best Online Feature to BA (Hons) Journalism student Tayla Davie. Ben commented that Tayla’s piece on period poverty was “a fascinating and informative look at a sensitive subject. Tayla had an excellent use of video, text and infographics to create a compelling and authoritative piece of work.”

Colin Drury from The Independent judged and presented the award for Best News Feature. BA (Hons) Journalism student Anna Blyszko won the prize, with Colin commenting that the compelling and well researched piece was of a quality that could be published professionally. Journalism graduate Will Roberts also won the Shorthand award for successfully completing his 100 words per minute not once, but twice.

Representatives from ITV, BBC Radio Nottingham and BBC Newsbeat judged awards for BA (Hons) Broadcast Journalism and presented four awards to students between them. Christian Hewgill, reporter for Radio 1's Newsbeat and CBJ alumni, presented the award for Best Radio Package to Megan Bourne for her package about Wetherspoons, calling it an ‘excellent piece of journalism’.  Aeneas Rotsos from BBC Radio Nottingham judged the award for Best Radio Feature, which was jointly awarded to Hannah Warren and Jon Bell for their pieces ‘Through the Eye of a Needle’ and ‘The Colour of Football’.

Guests from ITV judged the two television awards for BA (Hons) Broadcast Journalism. Yasmin Cash, content editor at ITV Central, presented the Best TV Package award to Mason Colman for his package on Christmas lights. The award for Best TV Feature, judged by Mike Blair, Head of ITV’s Consumer and Current Affairs for ITV Studio Shiver, went to Katie Fenton for her feature ‘The paedophile hunters’. Mike commended Katie for taking a sensitive subject and tackling it in a balanced, mature and understanding way.

Tayla Davie also won the Soroptimist Prize for her feature on period poverty, sponsored by the Nottingham Soroptimist Trust. Audrey Jones from the Trust presented the award, which is accompanied by a cash prize to encourage independent projects post-graduation. The Trust is the Nottingham division of Soroptimist International, which is a charity dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls both in the UK and internationally.

The final award of the ceremony was the Steve Coates Memorial Award, an award open to all undergraduate students in memory of long-serving CBJ engineer Steve Coates, who passed away in 2015. The room came together to remember Steve’s generosity, enthusiasm and team spirit. Nara Kasimiro received the award this year due to her inspiring resilience in overcoming significant personal challenges during her degree.

These awards offer students an opportunity to connect with industry on their graduation day, and make contacts for the future. Winning students have been offered a work experience placement with the awarding organisation, enabling them to gain vital industry experience needed for a career in journalism. Staff and students enjoyed the chance to celebrate the last three years and appreciate the student’s hard work. The variety and creativity of work produced in CBJ was evident in the breadth of work nominated on the day.