Five News Associates grads win top prizes at NCTJ Awards for Excellence

A fantastic FIVE News Associates graduates won awards at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence 2023 – including the prestigious student of the year accolade.

All of our News Associates grads shortlisted for the NCTJ Awards for Excellence standing and holding their certificates and smiling. They are all smartly dressed and standing in front of rows of books on a shelf in the library at the Royal College of Physicians.

Our News Associates shortlisted and winning grads at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence 2023

Eve Bennett (Sky News), who studied on an NCTJ-accredited fast-track course, won student of the year – awarded to the student who achieves the highest marks in their NCTJ in Diploma in Journalism exams in the 2022/23 academic year.

Eve, now working as a producer at Sky News, achieved seven As and 100 words-per-minute shorthand.

Elsewhere, News Associates graduates won the top prizes in sports journalism, data journalism, features journalism and for the best student project.

Connie Bowker (freelance journalist), who studied on a fast-track course with us, won the student features award. You can read her submissions here:

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News Associates graduate Connie Bowker and shorthand tutor Angela Catto. They are both smiling and smartly dressed and standing in front of rows of books on a shelf in the library at the Royal College of Physicians at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence 2023.

News Associates graduate Connie Bowker and shorthand tutor Angela Catto at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence 2023

A graphic with a headshot and a quote from Connie Bowker who won student feature of the year 2023. The quote reads: “I’m buzzing to have won the features of the year category at the NCTJ Awards of Excellence. It feels like a really exciting start to my career and I’m so grateful for the support I received from my peers and tutors at News Associates.”

News Associates sports journalism graduate Alec McQuarrie (freelance journalist) won the trainee sports journalism award for his piece, Psarra hopeful Paris prints place in Olympic history books.

News Associates course director Graham Moody and graduate Alec McQuarrie. They are both smiling and smartly dressed and standing in front of rows of books on a shelf in the library at the Royal College of Physicians at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence 2023.

News Associates course director Graham Moody and graduate Alec McQuarrie at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence 2023

A graphic with a headshot and a quote from Alec McQuarrie who won trainee sports journalist of the year 2023. The quote reads: “It’s an honour to win this award, having been shortlisted alongside a raft of talented young journalists. The training I received at News Associates was first class and full credit goes to all the tutors who ensure you graduate with all the tools you need in this industry.”

The School of Journalism graduate Ben Parsons (bunkered) was highly commended in the trainee sports journalism category. You can read his submissions here:

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NCTJ part-time course graduate Max Kendix (The Times) was crowned student data journalist of the year for his piece, The root of the problem with climate pledges to plant trees: there’s not enough space.

A graphic with a headshot and a quote from Max Kendix who won student data journalist of the year 2023. The quote reads: “I am delighted to have won this award. A big thank you to my editors for supporting me, and to News Associates for the invaluable training over the last year.”

Fellow part-time course graduate Eleanor Gunn was highly commended in the student data category for her article, Real reason your train was cancelled at last minute, revealed.

Another part-time graduate Asher Gibson won the top prize for student project of the year, for his work titled, How to heal a city – The growth of PrEP and future of HIV activism in London.

Asher Gibson with a massive smile holding his certificate. He is smartly dressed and standing in front of rows of books on a shelf in the library at the Royal College of Physicians at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence 2023.

Award-winning graduate Asher Gibson at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence 2023

A graphic with a headshot and a quote from Asher Gibson who won student project of the year 2023. The quote reads: “I’m super pleased to have won this award, especially one for a larger-scale project that took so much time and effort."

News Associates editorial development director Lucy Dyer said: “We are always so pleased to see the hard work our trainees put in recognised by the industry, they really deserve it.

“For our graduates to win awards across such a broad range of categories also highlights the all-round journalism training they receive at News Associates.

News Associates staff Graham Dudman, Graham Moody, Angela Catto, Lucy Dyer, Rachel Bull and James Toney at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence. They are all smartly dressed and standing in front of rows of books on a shelf in the library at the Royal College of Physicians.

(L-R) News Associates deputy managing editor Graham Dudman, course director Graham Moody, shorthand tutor Angela Catto, editorial development director Lucy Dyer, course director Rachel Bull and managing editor James Toney at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence 2023

“Eve and her fellow News Associates graduates shortlisted for student of the year all trained on courses where a tremendous amount of time and effort was also put into our award-winning coverage of the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, further showcasing the sheer commitment they all had towards journalism and their NCTJ studies.”

News Associates graduates Molly Pavord, Eve Bennett and Noah Keate at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence 2023. They are all smiling and smartly dressed and standing in front of rows of books on a shelf in the library at the Royal College of Physicians.

News Associates graduates (L-R) Molly Pavord, Eve Bennett and Noah Keate at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence 2023

Congratulations to all of our shortlisted graduates: Charlotte Alt, Eve Bennett, Connie Bowker, Jack Fifield, Bethan Finighan, Asher Gibson, Eleanor Gunn, Elise Hamersley, Noah Keate, Max Kendix, Alec McQuarrie, Oliver Murphy, Ben Parsons, Molly Pavord and Carla Rosch. You can read all of their work here.

To learn more about our NCTJ-accredited journalism courses, click here.