Vicky Double, Vicky Lo-Chi Tseng and Katriona Thompson receiving their awards. Pic. MATVJ
A group of students from Goldsmiths, University of London in Lewisham have won three national awards for trainee broadcast journalists. One of the awards recognised the work the students do for East London Lines.
The awards were part of this year’s Broadcast Journalism Training Council Student Awards, which were held at the BBC’s MediaCity, Salford, earlier this week.
The students from the MA in Television Journalism programme had the largest number of nominations for any university and any BJTC-accredited programme.
The class of 18 students won Best TV Newsday for the second year running for its weekly ELL+ programme, published on East London Lines. The programme was praised for its slick presentation and high production values.
Three students from the same class, Vicky Double, Vicky Lo-Chi Tseng and Katriona Thompson, won Best TV Documentary for their “mature and visually creative” film entitled ‘Church and State.’ The documentary discussed the role of politicians and the Catholic Church in Ireland over the mother and baby homes scandal. The homes were hostels for unmarried pregnant women, the last of which were closed in 1996.
Two of the group, Vicky Double and Vicky Lo-Chi Tseng, were runners up for Best TV News Item following their coverage of a national demonstration against education cuts, shot for EastLondonLines and ELL+.
Simisola Jolaoso, who was on the programme between 2015 and 2016, won the Steve Harris Award for Best Original Story for a documentary about forensic nurses in South Africa and their work helping rape victims. Jolaoso started planning this project while a student at Goldsmiths, submitting the idea as a proposal for one of her modules.
Simisola Jolaoso receiving her award. Pic. MATVJ
Jolaoso made the documentary with the help of a One World Media award containing a travel grant, allowing her to travel to South Africa to complete the project.
Programme convenor Linda Lewis said: “To be shortlisted in four separate categories was a major achievement, securing the highest number of nominations of any BJTC-accredited course in the country. Then going on to win three awards, again more than any other university, is hugely impressive.
“Bearing in mind that the BJTC accredits over 70 courses in over 40 institutions, this is a massive tribute to the students and those who teach them. I often tell the students that they go further, faster at Goldsmiths and award nominations like this prove it.
“What stood out was the range of their skills, from local news journalism to international long form documentaries. True all rounders, which is what the BJTC really value as it is what employers want in this multi-skilled, multi-platform multimedia age that we live in.”
The full list of winners is on the Broadcast Journalism Training Council website.
