Three News Associates graduates shortlisted for NCTJ Student of the Year 2024

Three fantastic News Associates graduates are named on the NCTJ Student of the Year 2024 shortlist. 

Ben Coneybeare, Holly Nichols and Rebecca Sproston made the shortlist, which celebrates the students who achieved the highest marks in their NCTJ in Diploma in Journalism exams in the 2023/24 academic year.

Ben trained on our sports journalism course in London, Holly graduated from our NCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree The School of Journalism and Rebecca studied on a fast-track course in Manchester!

News Associates alumna Eve Bennett (now Sky News) won the coveted prize in 2023.

A collage of our three News Associates graduated shortlisted for NCTJ Student of the Year. From left to right you can see pictures of Rebecca, Holly and Ben. They are all smiling and posing for the camera.
L-R: Super successful News Associates graduates Rebecca, Holly, Ben

Sportradar intelligence specialist Ben said: “I am extremely grateful to have been nominated in the NCTJ awards, which wouldn’t have been possible had I not been surrounded by a talented cohort of fellow trainees who helped push me to work hard.

“The skills I learnt on my NCTJ opened some unexpected doors and I feel very privileged to be able to put them to use in my current role.”

BBC Three Counties Radio journalist Holly said: “I’m absolutely delighted to have been shortlisted for the NCTJ Student of the Year award. It feels unreal to even have been nominated. 

“Such a huge thank you to the team at News Associates and The School of Journalism for their help over the past three years and to my team in BBC Local Radio for their constant support.”

Rebecca said: “I’m delighted to be shortlisted and I’m so grateful to Alice, Phil, and all the team at News Associates Manchester for their guidance and support.”

News Associates course leader Tom Holmes said: “It’s always fantastic to see the NCTJ shortlist full of News Associates grads and this year is no exception. To have nearly half of the Student of the Year shortlist be from News Associates is a testament to the fantastic work that our London and Manchester teams do. 

“As course leader in London, I’ve worked closely with both Holly and Ben and they are both absolutely brilliant and endlessly hard-working trainees who thoroughly deserve to be on this shortlist.”

News Associates head of journalism Alice Gregory said: “Congratulations to all the nominees – we are thrilled to see News Associates alumni on the shortlist for the NCTJ Student of the Year award and especially a candidate from our centre here in Manchester.

“It reflects the hard work these trainees put in and their dedication throughout their courses.

“Achieving exceptional grades across all the modules of the NCTJ Diploma is a fantastic achievement.”

Elsewhere, an incredible 17 News Associates graduates made the NCTJ Awards for Excellence shortlist.

Our alumni appear in every journalism category – news, sport, top scoop, features, podcast, data and videojournalism – plus in the equality, diversity and inclusion award (individual) shortlist.

There were more than 400 entries across 20 categories for the annual awards, which highlight the achievements of individuals with promising journalism careers ahead of them and those doing outstanding work in the media and training sector.

The Awards for Excellence ceremony is sponsored by Reuters and will be taking place at Hallé St Peter’s in Manchester.