Top-rated UK journalism school News Associates will train the latest recipient of the Daily Mail’s Stephen Lawrence Scholarship for free.
Kamal Sultan, 21, the son of Somalian refugees, will join a fast-track NCTJ journalism course at the school’s London centre this month.
He is the sixth and latest Stephen Lawrence scholar, but the first to train at News Associates, which was named the UK’s top provider of fast-track NCTJ Journalism courses last year.
Its sports journalism course in London has been named the best performing course overall by the National Council for the Training of Journalists.
The Daily Mail scheme, which partners with the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, aims to promote diversity in journalism and is named after the black teenager who was killed in a racist attack in 1993.
The newspaper campaigned to bring Larence’s killers to justice and published a front page accusing five men of his murder.
News Associates and its parent company Beat Media Group will provide a full bursary for Sultan’s training fees.
The Mail will pay him a salary while he is on the course and will join the paper in September along with other trainee reporters in September.
Sultan said: “I am excited about studying at News Associates and am hugely grateful to them and the Daily Mail for this opportunity.
“The skills I will be taught on the course, including shorthand, will give me the best chance to succeed in my chosen career.”
The youngest of his parents’ five children, Sultan said he decided he wanted to be a journalist aged 13 when he began writing articles for a football fan website.
Daily Mail trainee programme manager Sue Ryan said: “Kamal is exactly the sort of person the Mail had in mind when it set up the scheme.
“The Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Mail Online have taken on lots of trainees who have been trained at News Associates and we have been impressed with the results.
“We were not expecting them to offer him a bursary and are grateful for that offer.”
News Associates manager editor James Toney said: “We are excited to be working with the Daily Mail to help provide Kamal with this fantastic opportunity.
“As the UK’s leading journalism school supplying the best-trained young journalists to the industry, helping to improve newsroom diversity in newsrooms across the media is one of our key objectives.”
Stephen’s mother Doreen Lawrence, now Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, said: “The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust’s mission is to transform the career opportunities of aspiring, talented young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“This rare opportunity to train in journalism is an excellent example of how we demonstrate Stephen’s legacy.”
News Associates moved to new offices in Twickenham just before Christmas after leaving Wimbledon, where it had been based for the past 14 years.
The new office, at Ampersand House, on York Street, was officially opened by The Sun’s royal photographer Arthur Edwards.
Picture: News Associates
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
