Guardian student media awards winners. Student Multimedia Journalist of the Year, Kara Fox from Goldsmith’s University pictured third from the right.
Pic: The Guardian

Two graduates of Goldsmiths’ masters programme in digital journalism scooped awards at The Guardian’s Student Media Awards, winning first and second prize in the multimedia journalism division.

Kara Fox, 31, won Student Multimedia Journalist of the Year with her project The Case for Cannabis. The judges said it gave “compelling insight into the legalisation of cannabis debate”.

Fox’s project combined interactive elements with video and photography to “highlight personal narratives within a broader national context”, giving the issue “a real identity”. The judges praised her work as “beautifully shot” and “movingly told”.

Fox said: “I feel incredibly honored to have even been considered, I’m especially excited that The Guardian chose my work for this project because it’s a very under-reported issue, and I want to continue to give voice to those that have currently gone unheard.”

David Blood, 33, was named joint runner-up along with Francesca Ebel from the University of Cambridge. His work examined the debate around UKIP on Twitter and donations to political parties.

Blood said that being named a joint runner-up was “just incredible”. He and Fox both said that being shortlisted was an honour among such a talented field.

Fox said: “It’s a really exciting time for multimedia journalism in general, because the technology is finally catching up with our imaginations. We can tell the stories we always wanted to tell using new platforms.”

The multimedia journalism award is new category in this year’s student competition. It takes the place of the Digital Journalist of the Year Award, which was also won by a graduate from Goldsmiths MA/MSc digital journalism programme in 2014.

Blood praised the judges’ recognition of interactive journalism. “I think it’s great that the judges chose to recognise interactive journalism alongside video in the multimedia category, and I hope this will help open the category up for interactive journalists in future years.”

Both Fox and Blood will be invited to work in The Guardian’s newsroom in the coming year in recognition of their achievement.

Follow Alli Shultes on Twitter: @alli_shultes92