Two Darlington College journalism trainees have won top awards for their work as community reporters.
Albert Tait, now working for the Oxford Mail, and Ji-min Lee, news and sports reporter at Wokingham Today, were honoured in the NCTJ Excellence Awards at an event at Twickenham Stadium.
JI-min won the trainee sports journalism award for coverage of Reading Football Club and his TikTok series Escape the Drop which has given over 5m viewers behind the scenes access to the club’s quest for Championship survival while under transfer embargo.
Albert won the top scoop as part of his role as a community reporter at the Henley Standard.
Among the 447 award entries across 17 categories, there were also accolades for Darlington College journalism apprentices Georgia Langdon and Tamika Green who were commended in the Apprentice of the Year category. Georgia, highly commended, is now a senior reporter working for the Hexham Courant while Tamika is currently completing her apprenticeship at the Bury Free Press.
My London community reporter Ayo Oluwalana received two commendations in the awards while Paul McAuley was highly commended for his work for the Liverpool Echo sharing stories from the LGBTQIA+ communities.
Sam Harrison’s podcast for the Bury Free Press was commended as was community reporting from Megan Howe from the Shropshire Star.
Apprentices and community reporters study for the NCTJ Journalism Diploma and senior journalism qualification as part of their programmes with Darlington College.
Pictured: Darlington College journalism apprentices Georgia Langdon
