The winner of Press Gazette’s student journalist of the year award, Mark Hughes, has been snapped up by The Independent as the paper’s new northern correspondent.
Hughes, 21, won three Student Journalism Awards in July – including reporter of the year and scoop of the year. Judges said he could ‘walk into any newsroom and do a great job”.
He has been working as a reporter at the Carlisle News and Star since he was 18, and studied journalism at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston. He starts his new job on 10 December and will be based in Manchester.
Hughes told Press Gazette: ‘I’m delighted. Working for a national newspaper is something I’ve always wanted to do and I’m incredibly grateful to have the chance so early in my career.”
He caught the attention of Independent editor Simon Kelner after a recommendation from one of the award judges, Ed Caesar, who was named young journalist of the year at the 2006 British Press Awards.
The Independent’s former northern correspondent Ian Herbert is now the paper’s northern football reporter.
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