Sunderland College student Amy Kilbride has a bright future in journalism after entering a competition to find the best online story tellers.
Amy, who studies Creative Media Practice, was named runner-up in the University of Sunderland’s Future Journalism Stars 2022 by a panel of judges including industry experts.
The 17-year-old and her classmates were tasked with creating a WordPress blog and producing five pieces of content on a subject of their choice, with the chance to win several exclusive prizes up for grabs.
Being passionate about movies, Amy chose to write a series of reviews of her favourite films, receiving one-to-one advice from a dedicated mentor from the university’s Journalism, Sports Journalism and Fashion Journalism courses.
She was then invited to a special award ceremony the David Puttnam Media Centre where she received a journalism experience which saw her review of 80s teen comedy hit ‘The Breakfast Club’ starring Emilio Estevez published on sparksunderland.com.
After receiving her prize from Journalism and Fashion Journalism Programme Leaders Alistair Robinson and Carole Watson, Amy said: “The competition appealed to me as I had never thought about journalism before. I enjoyed learning how to create a WordPress website and the challenge of writing content about something I am passionate about.
“I am very proud my website was named runner-up in the competition, and I enjoyed my visit to the university for the exclusive experience at the Media Centre and to meet Erin, and the academic staff Carole and Alistair.”
The Future Journalism Stars competition engages prospective students who may be interested in a career in journalism, to give them an opportunity to showcase their talent.
Sally Taylor, Skills Development Coordinator at Sunderland College, added: “Amy worked incredibly hard on her Future Journalism Stars entry, and she enjoyed the process of developing and designing a website to showcase her work.
“Amy’s passion is the practical side of media, so this competition really gave her a chance to further develop her digital skills as well as experience writing content to inform and engage an audience.”
Professor Arabella Plouviez, Academic Dean of Arts and Creative Industries, said: “The judges really enjoyed Amy’s guide to movies by genre and see strong potential as a film reviewer.”
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98% of our students progress to a positive destination
(*Destination data for Sunderland College students aged 16-18, academic year 2017/18).
Our achievement rates are well above the national average.
We are the College of the Year.
(*Top college nationally for BTECs, Pearson 2019)
100% of our HND and HNC students progressed to employment or further study.
(*Destination data, academic year 2016/17, HNC 19+)
We have recently invested £50 million in our facilities.
