Journalism students scoop prizes in Midlands Media Awards

Journalism students from the University of Lincoln have won individual and team prizes in the prestigious Midlands Media Awards 2016.

Chris Gray, who completed his BA (Hons) Journalism degree at the Lincoln School of English & Journalism last year, won the Video Journalism category in the MMA Student Awards for his feature on young carers entitled Who Cares?He also won a special commendation in the overall Student Journalist of the Year category. These prizes follow similar recognition last November when he won Best Student Television Documentary in the Broadcast Journalism Training Council Awards.

Peter Lowe, Managing Editor of Sky News, who headed the judging panel, said Chris’ work was a superbly executed video production. He added: “The end result was compellingly human, and at the same time heart-warming and heart-breaking.”

Chris, now working for the BBC News Channel, said: “It was a really long piece of work to do and it was time consuming and at times difficult to make, but to be acknowledged that it was a good piece is really rewarding. But the films shows what young carers go through.

“I would not have won without the support from the staff at the University of Lincoln. They helped me make this the best this could be and spent time going through the writing and the frames with me.”

University of Lincoln student journalists also won team prizes at the Midlands Media Awards, which were staged last week in Birmingham.

Adam Tomlinson and Liam Ray won the Sports category for a series of reports and features on Lincoln City FC, Lincoln United FC and Lindum Hockey Club.

And the trio of Danielle Skerrett, Lauren Chick and Becky Archer won the Entertainment category for a magazine project called Frankie Says ‘I do’

Two fellow Lincoln students were also highly commended in their sections: Liam O’Dell for a blog piece on Channel 4’s Humans series and Will Longman in the Online Innovation category for streaming bulletins live.

Angeline McCall was nominated in the Scoop of the Year category for her piece called the Living Classroom.

John Cafferkey, Programme Leader for the BA (Hons) Journalism degree, said: “Once again our students are being recognised for the excellent work that they produce. We are incredibly proud of them and all of the students who were nominated.”

At last year’s Midland Media Awards, Lincoln student Natasha Turney was named Journalism Student of the Year for her film Death of a Clown, which highlighted the difficult times faced by people who run circuses and those who work in them.

The awards, launched with the aim of recognising future talent in broadcasting, journalism and photography, attracted some 257 entries from university and college students across the Midlands.

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