NCTJ students celebrate Royal Visit

A 48-page magazine to mark the launch of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Tour was produced by second year students from the NCTJ-accredited single honours journalism course at the Leicester Centre for Journalism.

The 20 students worked to some incredibly tight deadlines to turn round the Royal Visit magazine which featured stories about the visit to De Montfort University of Her Majesty, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duchess of Cambridge.

Covering real-world stories is an integral part of their learning but putting together this magazine to such a tight deadline was their toughest – and most exciting – assignment yet.

Student Dan Gooding summed up how they all felt. “It was such an adrenaline rush. We learn a lot on our course because all our lecturers are real newspaper people and know what it’s all about.

“But having a go at doing it ourselves really puts it all into perspective.”

LCJ director John Dilley, who edited the magazine with other journalism lecturers David Penman, Andy Plaice, Tor Clark and Ali Haynes, was delighted – and exhausted – with the operation. “The students were creative and committed – it truly was a diamond performance.”