Four News Associates grads score highest NCTJ exam results
A third of the highest-performing journalists in the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism exams for the year 2023-24 trained at News Associates.
Ayaat Yassin-Kassab, Lucianne Bell, Rosa Kama and Tom Picillo each achieved the best results in shorthand, court reporting, sports journalism and data journalism.
This is the second year in a row that four of the 12 highest-scoring NCTJ exams were achieved by a News Associates trainee.
A total of 11,158 diploma exams were sat throughout the last academic year and each of the top performing students receive a cash prize of £250.
You can see more about the NCTJ exams for the year 2023-24 here.
Congratulations to our Diploma in Journalism award winners – the top-performing candidates in module exams!
Read this years examiners reports to see what our examiners had to say.
— NCTJ (@NCTJ_news) July 22, 2025
Tom, who studied on our sports journalism course, won the The Telegraph data journalism award.
The assistant producer at Stak said: “I’m delighted to have won this award and I couldn’t have done it without the fantastic support from the team at News Associates.
“I’d also like to thank the Journalism Diversity Fund for supporting me through the process.”
Rosa, who studied on our fast-track course via a scheme with the Chelsea Foundation and the Black Collective of Media in Sport, won the Premier League sports journalism award for achieving 83% in the exam.
The digital editorial consultant at The Premier League said: “I was already proud of the result on its own so to hear it was the top mark in the country was surreal!
“I’m grateful I now get to apply the skills I learned everyday working in sports media.”
Ayaat also studied on our fast-track course and is now a trainee reporter at MailOnline. She won the Sky Sports News shorthand award with 100% accuracy in the 100wpm exam.
Ayaat said: “Studying at News Associates was the perfect friendly start to working in the industry.
“The tutors are all wonderful, and consistently generate great results.
“The fast-track course is thorough and immersive, and provides a great opportunity to build a portfolio before applying for jobs.”
chuffed to have received the highest mark in the country last year, and congrats to all the other award winners https://t.co/hkUGEa0xKQ
— Ayaat Yassin-Kassab (@ayaatyk) July 22, 2025
Luci has just graduated from our BA Multimedia Journalism course The School of Journalism and won the National World court reporting award with a hugely impressive 98%.
Luci said: “I’m super excited to have won this award, it definitely makes all the revision worth it!
“The undergraduate course at the News Associates is extremely practical, you’re a journalist from day one with content published across The Londoner sites.
“It’s also great that the NCTJ is integrated within the degree, so you have all the qualifications and skills needed to enter the industry.”
News Associates course leader Tom Holmes said: “It’s always a joy but never a surprise to see our trainees winning awards for their performance on their NCTJ courses. To have four names on this list is a testament to our team but more than that to the trainees themselves.
“It was an absolute delight to train Luci, Ayaat, Rosa and Tom who are four outstanding individuals. They all worked supremely hard and deserve their success.”
Apply for one of our award-winning journalism training courses here.