A group of De Montfort University (DMU) Journalism students have won a national award for their Royal Visit magazine.
Eighteen BA (Hons) Journalism students put the special edition publication together as part of the Queen’s visit to DMU in March this year.
The magazine won Best Student Publication at the National Council for the Training of Journalists’ Excellence in Journalism Awards on Wednesday 28 November.
The award was presented by Sir Michael Parkinson at the glittering event in Nottingham.
Nichola Munro, 22, one of the students who picked up the award, said: “It was amazing to be selected to claim this award for the rest of the class.
“The night was incredible and we felt very proud to receive the award.”
The commendation was one amongst other individual achievements for trainee and student journalists including Best Investigative Piece, Best Photograph and Best Sports Piece.
Miss Munro added: “It was an honour to attend and be amongst well established journalist and reporters.”
The 48-page magazine is composed of features and coverage of the first day of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee tour.
The group had complete control over what they wanted to write about and how the pages would look.
Articles included royal fashion, the Queen’s opening of Curve theatre in 2008 and a look at the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Judges Dave King, head of news at Sussex Newspapers, and Joy Yates, editor at Hartlepool Mail, described it as “simply stunning”, with well-written and interesting articles. They added that it was “a quality publication with a long shelf-life and coffee table appeal."
Rebecca Smith-Dawkins, 20, who was also at the award ceremony, said: “We put in so much effort as a group and we had to produce it to such a tight deadline.
“It was so much fun to produce it, so the award was just a massive bonus on top of that.”
The 5,000 magazines were distributed around the campus and the city centre and were extremely popular. A copy was also sent to the Queen for her to enjoy.
Journalism lecturer John Dilley said: “Everyone at the Leicester Centre for Journalism is so proud of what the students achieved with such a tight deadline.
“It’s fantastic to have won the award and get this national recognition. However, what’s most important is the magazine will be an important addition to the CV of each and every student.”
Posted on Friday 30 November 2012