Double win at broadcast journalism awards

By UK Journalism

UCLan’s Journalism department had a double win at this year’s Broadcast Journalist Training Council (BJTC) student awards.

Former postgraduate student Myranda Devonish won the award for the best short TV report sponsored by ITV News. Graduate Lorna Blount won Sky News’s best multi-platform story award for her story that included video, audio, online, interactivity and text.

The seven student winners were from the 43 BJTC accredited courses across the country and UCLan was the only one to have more than one winner. Each winner received £500 and a certificate.

Myranda Devonish’s winning story was about Mandy Sellers, a woman who suffers from Proteus syndrome which has left her with 11 stone legs.

Myranda said: “I first found out about Mandy’s condition from an article I read in the newspaper. I thought it would make a great story to show that Mandy isn’t a victim and has a great fighting spirit and sense of fun.”

Lorna Blount’s story covered child modelling and looked at the children that enter beauty pageants, the parents behind them and the issues surrounding it. It is the first year that the multi-platform category has been included in the awards, reflecting the changes in the broadcasting industry.

High standards

The award ceremony took place at ITV News in London and the winners were presented with their cheques by Sangeeta Bhabra, presenter of ITV News Meridian East. She said that “the awards represented the high standards achieved by all of the BJTC accredited courses.”

The Head of the Department of Journalism at UCLan, Mike Ward, said he was delighted that once again students from the university had done so well at the awards.

"This competition is only open to students from the industry-recognised, accredited colleges. So, to be the only journalism school to win two BJTC awards this year is particularly gratifying.

"Both Myranda and Lorna paid tribute at the awards to the support they received from teaching staff at the department. My congratulations to them both, and my colleagues, for this great achievement."

More info
MA Broadcast Journalism
PGDip Broadcast Journalism
BA (Hons) Journalism
Broadcast Journalist Training Council (BJTC)

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Nominations in Media Awards short-list

Extra and related information

Our print and broadcast courses are accredited by the The Broadcast Journalism Training Council and the National Council for the Training of Journalists. Our MA Magazine Journalism is accredited by the Periodicals Training Council.