University of Warwick Student Journalists Honored at National Awards
The University of Warwick’s student newspaper, The Boar, has been celebrated at the Student Publication Association National Awards.
The annual ceremony celebrated the best student newspapers, magazines, and journalists for innovative and impactful work produced over the past 12 months.
The Boar secured three awards including:
- Best Creative Piece, Greetings and Goodbye by Zoé Barret.
- Best Interview, What’s the Big Issue? A frank conversation on homelessness by Eden Fall-Bailey.
- Highly Commended: Best News Story, Warwick student ‘failed by the justice system’ after Sherbourne stabbing sentencing by Archie Clarke and Luke Chapman.
Zoé Barret, winner of Best Creative Piece said, “I am incredibly honoured and happy to have won the award for Best Creative Piece. This poem represented the things I love most about university, an environment where you learn to live independently but also necessarily with others, in a way that your friends become family. These are feelings I will always associate with Warwick and I am glad I could share them.”
“Working with The Boar this year was an amazing experience, and I am grateful for the people I’ve met and this platform as a whole that encourages all types of writing and expressions to come forward.”
Archie Clarke and Luke Chapman, highly commended for Best News Story said, “We’re incredibly pleased to have been highly commended for this award. It was such an important article to get right as both of us have heard so many different versions of the original story. We put a lot of effort into ensuring the facts were right, and we hope this story has provided a definitive narrative for the Warwick student community.”
Eden Fall-Bailey, winner of Best Interview said, “I’m super honoured to be accepting this award but the real recognition should go to Frank. It’s also refreshing to see non-traditional media stories being acknowledged!”
This year the awards attracted more than 1,200 entries making them the UK’s biggest journalism awards. Nominations were judged by a diverse range of top editors and journalists from media organisations including the BBC, Sky News, The Guardian, The Times, OK Magazine, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, and openDemocracy.
Judges paid tribute to the high standards of work submitted, acknowledging that many pieces would fit perfectly into national publications.
Aubrey Allegretti, a Trustee for the SPA who is also Chief Political Correspondent for The Times said, “Student journalists have produced some phenomenal work this year. They conducted important investigative work, and kept their audiences informed and entertained in equal measure. Despite the threat of funding cuts, student journalists are still the lifeblood of their campus communities. They have campaigned on a range of important issues and continued to innovate to give a voice to the voiceless. I am confident our winners will follow those before them into the profession and become the industry leaders of tomorrow.”