Highest pass rate of the year for NQJ senior reporter exams

Sixty-two percent of candidates taking the National Qualification in Journalism passed to become qualified as senior reporters.

A total of 54 out of 88 reporters passed National Council for the Training of Journalists exams on media law and practice, news reporting and interviewing.

This is the highest pass rate since the National Certificate Examination became the National Qualification in Journalism in March this year.

Lizzie Dearden from the Ilford Recorder won the Ted Bottemley Award for her media law and practice paper, described by the examiner as “a joy to mark”.

Emma Rigby of the Wirral Globe was awarded the Esso Award for news reporting due to her “accurate and informative content”.

Ramzy Alwakeel from the Romford Recorder wn the Society of Editor’s Award for his “readable” news interview which has a “great use of colour”.

Jonathan Taylor from the Western Gazette secured the Newsquest Award for his logbook of work, described as a “competent member of the newsroom” by the examiner.

All four scooped £250 cash prizes for their work.

Rigby, who trained at the Northwich Guardian before moving to the Wirral Globe, said “Passing the NQJ is a dream come true and the perfect Christmas present. After an agonizing wait, I was delighted to hear that I had been successful in becoming a senior reporter – winning this prize is an overwhelming bonus.”

The judges were particularly pleased to see a marked increase in the scores for the media law exam, up 29 percentage points on the last exam. In addition, 100 percent of candidates passed the logbook section, with promising and praised results.

Shorthand, accuracy surrounding reporting statistics and questioning technique were considered to be the main weaknesses, which led the moderator to question how often trainees are carrying out face-to-face interviews on the job.

The full list of all the candidates who passed are as follows:

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