News Associates named top-performing NCTJ course again

A News Associates course has once again achieved the highest results in the UK.

Our NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Sports Journalism course at News Associates in London won the best-performing course overall in 2020/21 with a whopping 76% of trainees achieving the gold-standard qualification (A-C in all modules and 100wpm shorthand).

This is the seventh straight year a News Associates course has won this top prize.

Our fast-track NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism course in London is the best course of its kind for the ninth year in a row (independent fast track) – with 70% of trainees leaving with a gold-standard diploma.

And we’ve been the number one-ranked NCTJ-accredited course in London for 13 years.

News Associates London head of journalism Graham Moody (centre left) and editorial development manager Lucy Dyer (centre right) collecting the awards for top overall NCTJ course and top fast-track course at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence 2019 with Sky Sports News presenter Dharmesh Sheth (left) and NCTJ chairman Kim Fletcher (right). Graham and Lucy are smiling and holding NCTJ awards. — News Associates London head of journalism Graham Moody (centre left) and editorial development manager Lucy Dyer (centre right) collecting the awards for top overall NCTJ course and top fast-track course at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence 2019 with Sky Sports News presenter Dharmesh Sheth (left) and NCTJ chairman Kim Fletcher (right)

The annual awards are based on trainees’ achievements in the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism.

The sports media diploma course at @NewsAssociates London is named the best performing course overall, with 76 per cent of students achieving the gold standard diploma 🌟

Congratulations to the team at News Associates London! https://t.co/fh6A9R54iG #chooseNCTJ pic.twitter.com/WIKkm0nH09
— NCTJ (@NCTJ_news) March 30, 2022

News Associates London head of journalism Graham Moody said: “The last academic year posed many challenges for our trainees and our training team and to win these course-performance awards is reward for everyone’s hard work.

“The trainees embraced the intensive training and worked extremely hard to make sure they came out with the qualification their efforts deserved, which has led them into journalism jobs where they are showing off their obvious talent.

“With the country going in and out of lockdowns, our team of fantastic tutors embraced our move into hybrid teaching without skipping a beat. They adapted our courses superbly to make sure the trainees got the best training possible full of the latest developments in journalism. Nobody works harder and these awards show that.”

*News Associates Manchester head of journalism Alice Gregory (left) with Graham Moody and Lucy Dyer at the NCTJ accreditation seminar in 2021*

The news follows a hugely successful day for News Associates graduates at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence 2021 when six alumni won awards for their journalism.

News Associates graduates Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero, Rachel Steinberg, Sophia Hall, Carolina Herranz-Carr, Charlie Jones and Jacklin Kwan picked up the awards for student and sports journalism, student top scoop, trainee podcast journalism and student data journalism.

*Jacklin Kwan (centre) with Sky News director of content Cristina Nicolotti Squires (left) and Sky Sports News presenter Nick Powell (right) at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence 2021*

At the NCTJ Awards for Excellence 2020 News Associates won Innovation of the Year for our response to teaching in the pandemic.