First Rung, a magazine produced by journalism students at Highbury College, clinched first prize at the Magazine Academy Awards.
The competition, run by the Periodicals Training Council, asked students to produce a magazine as part of their course. They had to take responsibility for the content, layout, design and photography and were then given the chance to see their magazine in print.
First Rung, a homes magazine aimed at first-time buyers, was described by the judges as “a deceptively simple, easy-to-navigate, focused magazine that was enjoyable to read”.
Editor Jamie Carter had just two weeks to produce the title with 10 other students from his course. He said: “We thought we’d try to do a magazine for ourselves and help firsttime buyers to buy a house. It has basic DIY and a bit of humour.”
Asked what he thought made the title stand out from the rest, he added: “We were lucky enough to have very good writers and I think the design was quite consistent; we paid a lot of attention to tiny details such as straplines and fonts.”
Skirt magazine by students at Cardiff University and Business As Usual from Southampton Institute were highly commended.
The winners were announced at a reception at the Groucho Club in London, presented by Mike Soutar, editorial director at IPC, and Nicholas Brett, PTC chairman and deputy managing director at BBC Worldwide.
Lindsay Nicholson, editor-in-chief of Good Housekeeping, and Radio Times editor Gill Hudson were also among the judges.
First Rung was also highly commended in the student team of the year category in the Press Gazette Student Journalism Awards.
By Ruth Addicott
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