Some 85 regional press journalists have made the grade as senior reporters after passing their NCTJ National Certificate Examinations last month.
The pass rate, of 66 per cent, was the highest in recent years.
The July exams were also notable because the news interview – which tests shorthand, interviewing and news writing ability – featured the first murder story in the history of the NCTJ.
Reporters were asked to speak to a ‘police inspector’to investigate the scenario surrounding a teenage boy stabbed to death on a street near his home. They then had to write a story for publication on a news website based on an interview with Detective Chief Inspector John Penman.
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Although candidates were aware a teenage knife attack victim was in a critical condition, they were not told the story had become a murder inquiry until they began the interview.
The NCTJ examiner’s report said: ‘Those who put the emphasis on the boy and his family were rewarded with a wealth of information.
‘There were plenty of facts available to an empathetic interviewer about the boy (his character, his school – that he had recently completed his GCSEs or Highers, and his family – his mother was at his bedside when he died, his father was being flown back from France where he was a long-distance lorry driver, his brothers and sisters).”
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The candidates to win awards for the best results in each part of the NCE exam were:
SOCIETY OF EDITORS’ AWARD
(NEWS INTERVIEW – £250)
Nicola Fifield The Press, York
ESSO AWARD (NEWS REPORT – £250)
Ian O’Pray Harborough Mail
TED BOTTOMLEY AWARD
(NEWSPAPER PRACTICE – £250)
Edward Davey Islington Gazette
Newsquest AWARD (LOGBOOK – £250)
Neil Skinner Watford Observer
The full list of winners are:
Name Newspaper/agency
Thom Airs Oxford Mail
Alexander Ali Herald Express
Claire Jane Armstrong Dewsbury Reporter
Ashley Bolton Southern Daily Echo
Sarah Bould Ripley & Heanor News
Nicola Brady The Garstang Courier
Benjamin Joseph Briggs Lancashire Telegraph
Lisa Bruen Stamford Mercury
Dave Burke Luton & Dunstable Herald & Post
Peter Castle Aldershot News
Samuel Chadderton Chorley Guardian
Jonathan Cheetham News Shopper
Hayley Court Swindon Advertiser
Hannah Crown Enfield Independent
Edward Miles Davey Islington Gazette
Katie Davies Hampstead & Highgate Express
Miles Davis Western Morning News
Caron Dias Haringey Independent
Charlotte Ebers West Sussex County Times
Laura Elisabeth Enfield Maidenhead Advertiser
Nicola Fifield The Press, York
Robert William John Fisk News Shopper
Robert Gibson MK News
Owen Griffiths Courier Newspapers
James Hanley Scarborough Evening News
Victoria Holman Manchester Evening News
Jennifer Ivers Derbyshire Times
Thomas Jackson Cambridgeshire Times
Michael James Jarvis Cornish Guardian
Helen Johnson Rochdale Observer
Rhiannon Jones Llanelli Star
Adrian Kajumba Southern Daily Echo
Frances Kindon Northwich Guardian
Cara Lee Streatham Guardian
Shaun Lintern Express & Star
Donna Marie Macallister The Cornishman
Matthew Maher Halesowen News
Christopher John Mallett Derby Evening Telegraph
Paul Marsden Blackpool Gazette
Nicholas James Mashiter Wiltshire Gazette & Herald
Adrianne Maslen Bridport News
Christopher Maxwell Tameside Reporter
Kerry McDermott Express & Star
Katherine McGlinchey Worthing Herald
William McManus Andover Advertiser
Ben McPartland Hampstead & Highgate Express
Caren McPate Kirkintilloch Herald
Piers Meyler Brentwood Gazette
Graham Moody Croydon Guardian
Helen Mullins Worksop Guardian
Aline Mary Nassif Croydon Advertiser
Sarah Newstead The Cumberland News
Katherine Louise Nicholls The Citizen, Gloucester
Sarah Nicholls Western Gazette
Ian O’Pray Harborough Mail
Victoria Olsen Orkney Today
Rachel Parry Mansfield Chad
India Pollock Carmarthen Journal
Hannah Clare Postles Pontefract & Castleford Express
Jonathan Reeve Southern Daily Echo
Hannah Russell Sussex Express
Jonathan Schofield Mansfield Chad
Edward Sexton Crawley Observer
Emma Seymour Kent & Sussex Courier
Nafeesa Shan Lancashire Telegraph
Kate Shannon Fife Free Press
Jenny Simpson Lancashire Evening Post
Neil Skinner Watford Observer
Natalie Jane Slater Reading Evening Post
Laura Squires Banbury Guardian
Victoria Lynn Stockman Warrington Guardian
Eleanor Stride Basingstoke Gazette
Roslyn Tappenden Redhill, Reigate & Horley Life
Lorraine Tinney Greenock Telegraph
Andrew Van Terheyden INS News Agency
Tracy Walker Hartlepool Mail
Louise Wallace Lincolnshire Echo
Daisy Wallage Lynn News
Katherine Susan Wheeler Sunderland Echo
Helen White Newbury Weekly News
Clive Whittingham Ripley & Heanor News
Jessica Williams The Sentinel
Cherry Elizabeth Wilson Rotherham Advertiser
Emma Wright Weston & Somerset Mercury
Rehana Zeria Halifax Evening Courier
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