News and Events

MA Journalism students scoop top awards

23 April 2009

Award winners Verena Vogt, Simon Essex and Kyriaki Karadelis

Three BU students are “thrilled” after winning national online journalism awards.

Three BU students from the MA Multi-Media Journalism course have won top national student awards from the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC).

The BJTC is a partnership consisting of the main employers in the UK broadcast industry including the BBC, ITN, Sky News and Reuters. lt presents awards to outstanding students from UK universities with BJTC accreditation.

The Council accreditates BU’s journalism courses and recognises their relevance and responsiveness to the demands of the broadcasting industry.

The BU students scooped both awards for online journalism at the ceremony held at the National Union of Journalists headquarters in London on 25 March.

This included Best Website, which went to Kyriaki Karadelis, and Best Multi-Platform Story, sponsored by Sky Television, jointly won by Simon Essex and Verena Vogt.

All three students, who graduated in 2008, were judged on their production project websites that formed part of their coursework.

Simon Essex’s multi-media website showed and filmed the threat to humans from the decline in the bee population.

Now working for Sky Sport, Simon said: “I think the course was the best choice for someone like me, who had not worked in the industry before and wanted to learn a wide range of journalism skills.

“I learned a vast amount about television, radio and web journalism in a short and busy space of time. As a result, I left the course with the confidence to apply for jobs in any one of these three areas.”

Verena Vogt, from Germany, looked at biofuels’ impact on living and the future.

A graduate of The University of Cologne , Verena said: “I am thrilled, and am sure this will help my career.”

BU's MA Multi-Media Journalism course is a programme educating journalists to work in online, television, and, radio news media.

Visit the Award Winners' Websites: