London’s most talented teenage journalists received awards at a special ceremony in July.

The youngsters triumphed in our Young Reporter Awards, beating close to 1,000 other students at 100 schools across the capital and in parts of Kent and Surrey.

Now celebrating its seventh successful year, the Young Reporter scheme is a great opportunity for any youngster with their sights set on a career in journalism.

We’re now recruiting for this year’s batch of young wanabee journalists who are interested in making the news.

Schools that would like to take part in the Young Reporter scheme next year should call Diana Jarvis on 020 8722 6378 or email her at djarvis@london.newsquest.co.uk


Diana Jarvis explains the vision and benefits of the Young Reporter scheme in this video

Set up six years ago, the Young Reporter scheme lets school students get a taste of life as a journalist by completing a series of assignments that are then published on our websites.

Every year the quantity and quality of entries has increased and this year was no different – the judges had great difficulty in selecting the winners.

Big winners on the night included Chloe Batchford from Chislehurst’s Farrington School, who triumphed in the years 10 and 11 age group for breaking news.

Her gripping account of a burglary on Halloween night in Chislehurst included witness reports and hints at a bright journalistic future.

Read the work of the winning students at yourlocalguardian.co.uk/youngreporter

Group managing editor Andy Parkes, who helped present the awards, said: “This is one of my favourite events, and it gets better every year.

“The enthusiasm and dedication of the young reporters never ceases to amaze me and it’s an honour to recognise their achievements.

“We know it helps immensely when they are applying for university places and a number of the young reporters who took part in year one have already gone on to become professional journalists.

“I am already looking forward to this year’s entrants.”

Peter Le Riche, from the University of Roehampton, the awards’ higher education partner, said: “Our congratulations go to each one of the winners for the work they have put in.

“The students I spoke to at the awards were clearly serious about becoming responsible journalists, which is very heartening to see.”

As part of their prize, all the winners students were invited to a special day, organised by Kingston University, where there were helped to create their own newspaper, which the called the London Comet, using their award-winning stories.

Diana Jarvis started the schools programme in September 2008. 

It was her idea to give students the chance to experience working as reporters in a highly competitive industry.

Having working in journalism for over twenty years, she started life as a junior reporter on a trade journal working for whom she can only describe as ‘a dragon’ of an editor.

She says: “It was quite a scary start and could have turned me off journalism for ever but instead it taught me a lot and toughened me up for working in this industry.”

Over the years she has worked for many publications and loved being in and around the media. 

It was always her dream to write and she sent off her first article to the editor of a magazine when she was twelve. 

She said: “I felt quite incensed when he sent back a rejection letter but he did give me some positive words. 

"He told me to study hard and I could have a career in journalism. 

"Those words gave me the push to do just that and here I am today working with students, some of whose dreams are to follow along that path."

Schools that would like to take part in the scheme next year should call Diana Jarvis on 020 8722 6378 or email her at djarvis@london.newsquest.co.uk