Outstanding students, trainees and apprentices are celebrated at NCTJ Awards for Excellence

All the shortlisters in the 2022 Awards for Excellence

Student, trainee and apprentice journalists have been honoured in this year’s NCTJ Awards for Excellence, sponsored by News UK.

There were 447 entries across 17 categories, in addition to the 1,426 students and trainees eligible for the student and trainee of the year awards.

The ceremony, which took place today at Twickenham Stadium, was hosted by Sky Sports News presenter Jo Wilson.

Addressing the shortlisted entrants, Jo reflected on a year of journalism triumphs and said: “I’m struck by how the importance of quality journalism and trusted journalists has once more been thrust into the spotlight.

“Over the past year, we saw the unbelievable courage and bravery of reporters in Ukraine, risking their lives to tell the stories the world needs to know.

“Journalists also had to sensitively handle the news of the first death of a British monarch in 70 years, report the devastating effect of the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey and we’ve heard from reporters about the hard-hitting impact of the cost-of-living crisis as inflation surged.

“Journalism students and trainees have been continuing to show adaptability, communication and teamwork as they adjusted to learning and working in a post-pandemic world.”

The student and trainee categories included news, sports, features, top scoop, podcast journalism, data journalism and student project of the year.

Performance awards were also given to the best-performing apprentice, student and trainee journalists in the 2021-22 academic year.

Apprentice of the year is awarded after employers and trainers nominate their high-flyers, and this year the judges praised the extremely high standard of entries.

The award went to Daniel Kane, who started his apprenticeship with talkSPORT and PA Training straight after he finished studying his A Levels. He achieved gold standard in his diploma and a distinction in his apprenticeship.

Daniel’s line manager said he “has impressed everyone with his professionalism, not least in his different rotations where his colleagues didn’t want him to leave.”

Dan received a cheque for £200 from award sponsor Brunswick Group.

The overall student of the year award is presented to the individual who achieved the top marks in the Diploma in Journalism in the last academic year, and the overall trainee of the year is the individual who achieved the best result in the National Qualification in Journalism (NQJ).

This year’s student journalist of the year is Charley Bergman, who recently graduated from Leeds Trinity University and now works as a production journalist at ITV Calendar in Leeds.

Charley achieved the best overall diploma results with an impressive seven As and shorthand at 100 words per minute. She received a cheque for £200 from award sponsor Yahoo UK.

The trainee journalist of the year award was given to Amy Austin, news editor at FTAdviser.

Amy, who studied at PA Training, achieved the best overall results in the National Qualification in Journalism out of all the candidates sitting in the 2021-23 academic year. She achieved a distinction in all three assessments.

Amy received a cheque for £200 from award sponsor Alder Media.

A list of all winners, plus those highly commended and commended for each award, and their shortlisted work, is available here.