Last week 19 sixth-formers spent a week getting the inside track on British journalism from News UK's leading lights.
The end result was a 16-page tabloid newspaper called SHIFT which they created and saw printed at News UK's Broxbourne plant.
Each aspiring journalist at the News Academy Summer School was asked to write a review of their week. The accounts were judged by Press Gazette and the below guest blog from journalism star of the future 18-year-old Shingi Mariarike (pictured above) was the winner
To break into journalism you need a foot in the door. News UK’s News Academy Summer School gave me and 18 other young journalists from across Britain more than just a foot in the door, more a shove in the right direction.
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The inaugural summer school was the centrepiece of the News Academy calendar which consisted of conferences all over Britain and Ireland aimed at inspiring the journalists of tomorrow. A jam-packed agenda saw us meet journalists from The Times, The Sun and The Sunday Times. We received sound advice whilst also getting the chance to pick their brains. It’s not often that an 18-year-old from Newham rubs shoulders with Trevor Kavanagh, Dave Wooding and Eleanor Mills.
Gemma Calvert, deputy features editor for Fabulous Magazine, reminded us “great interviews are great conversations”, and Mick Hume of Spiked outlined the “ABC of writing… accuracy, brevity and clarity".
Although these master classes were insightful, nothing beats going out and getting your hands dirty. The idea of finding my own exclusive stories is what drew me to journalism and we were given the chance to do exactly that.
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Under the guidance of Jon Moorhead, head of editorial projects at The Sun, we were tasked with creating our own newspaper – “Shift.” Putting into practise what we had learned, we experienced first-hand the pressure of producing a newspaper, the strenuous editing and endless phone calls.
Working into the early hours of Friday to make Shift a reality was a terrific experience, watching the paper being printed then critiqued by editor of the Sun David Dinsmore provided a fitting finale.
Challenging but ultimately rewarding, the week was all that an introduction to journalism should be. It whet my appetite and left me even more determined to forge a career in the industry.
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