MA Journalism alumni wins top Midlands Media Award for Sherwood library feature
NTU Journalism alumni Tegan Maass has won Student Feature Writer of the Year at the 2025 Midlands Media Awards for her CBJ Star piece on Sherwood’s library campaign.
Published on 5 December 2025
Tegan Maass, an MA Journalism alumni at NTU, has been named Student Feature Writer of the Year at the 2025 Midlands Media Awards - part of the Birmingham Press Club - thanks to her compelling article about the campaign to reopen the library in Sherwood. Her work on the story, published in the CBJ Star, stood out to judges as a strong example of investigative and community-focused journalism.
In her award-winning piece, Tegan documented the growing frustration, and resilience, of Sherwood residents campaigning for their long-promised community library. Through vivid reporting, she captured the voices of families, early-years practitioners, long-time library workers and other concerned residents who have taken part in protests, traffic-blocking demonstrations and council meetings to demand action.
Her article blends empathy with rigour: presenting individual stories, community-level consequences, and the human cost of delays to the promised library. It balances public-interest concerns with grassroots voices, a journalistic approach that resonated with the judges of the Midlands Media Awards.
Reflecting on the award, Tegan stated:
"I was honoured to win Student Feature Writer of the Year at the 2025 Midlands Media Awards. I wrote a feature about a community’s campaign to reopen their local library, utilising skills I’d learned from my MA. I am so grateful I got to apply the skills I’d learned to real local journalism and make a positive difference. Attending the Midlands Media awards was an amazing experience, and I can’t thank my tutors enough for all their support and encouragement."
Tegan’s award win demonstrates the real-world impact and professional standard that students at NTU can achieve. Her success underscores how the MA Journalism programme encourages students to tackle meaningful, locally relevant issues, and highlights the value of giving voice to communities through accurate, engaged reporting.
We are proud of Tegan’s achievement. Her award-winning article is a testament to her talent and dedication as a journalist, and a strong example of the kind of work NTU students are capable of producing.