Two sports reporters achieve senior status

Four candidates sat the National Certificate Examination for Sports Reporters this November, and two of them were awarded the qualification.

Chief examiner Dave King said in the examiners’ report: “This was a good test of the candidates that performed well. It is noticeable how few candidates had prepared specifically for the exam and instead tackled it with an eyes wide open approach.”

The sports NCE is designed to test candidates on what they practice in their day-to-day lives and consists of four sections.

The sports interview paper was a pre-match interview with England rugby head coach Stuart Lancaster. There were a number of strong angles for candidates to chase and required a good interview technique.

The sports report was based on a press conference given by Craig Tiley, tournament director of the Australian Open on the theme of prize money in tennis. Candidates had to pull together a lot of statistics and create sharp, crisp copy.

Newspaper practice for sports reporters featured questions on the sudden death of a weightlifter, the selection of an Irish-born cricketer in the England squad, racism in football and BBC Sports Personality of the Year. All candidates handled the law questions well and there were some good answers that offered a wide variety of sources.

Finally candidates have to complete a sports logbook, showcasing the range of sports covered during their training, how their writing style has developed and how they have adapted to different demands such as video or writing for the campaign. The logbooks at the November NCE were of a high quality.