College’s student media picks up two awards and two runner up awards - <em>News</em>
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Tuesday 2 December 2008
By Naomi Weston
Imperial College’s student media triumphed at this year’s Guardian Student Media Awards winning two categories and two runner up awards.
Felix, the student newspaper, fought off competition from the University of York and the University of Cambridge to win the Student Newspaper of the year award.
Last year’s editor, Tom Roberts, a fourth year physics undergraduate, won in the Student Journalist of the year category.
Adding to the student success, I,science, the student’s science publication, was a runner up in the Student Magazine of the year category and Angry Geek in the Student Columnist of the year category.
Tom Roberts won in the Student Journalist of the year category
Tom was surprised to win his award. He said:
“I was in shock on the night and I don’t remember them calling out my name. To win in both categories is a great achievement for Felix. The judges said they really liked the newspaper’s quirky humour and that we struck a good balance between serious news and more light hearted stories.”
“They were also impressed with our variety of stories and our willingness to take a risk with our bold front page. Felix has a unique feel to it and I introduced the idea of having one visual lead for the front page last year. It has proved to be a big success. I think it is quite dramatic and encourages people to pick it up,” he added.
Tom wins a seven-week work placement at the Guardian. He said:
“I can’t wait to start my work experience at the Guardian. I love all aspects of producing a newspaper from writing stories to designing pages and taking photographs. I finish my Physics degree next summer and I am considering a career in journalism. It is a really satisfying job.”
Felix is published weekly and covers a wide variety of issues including news, comment, sport, film, music, the arts, fashion, nightlife, food and politics. Big stories it has covered over the last few months include the NUS referendum, Commemoration Day, accommodation issues and security on campus.
Current editor, Jovan Nedic, is a full time sabbatical officer and is assisted by a team of up to 40 student volunteers who contribute to the newspaper.
How does he feel to be running an award winning publication? “I am really enjoying being Editor and it is great to have so many willing volunteers working here. I hope with this award under our belt more people will want to get involved and read it,” he said.
“I have been doing a lot of work behind the scenes recently to ensure things run smoothly and also to organise Felix’s archive. Now I would like to focus more on uncovering stories and finding out what the students want to read about. We are introducing more magazines to be pull outs in Felix. In two weeks time there will be the first gaming magazine which will be produced each term and we will continue producing a special Varsity magazine,” he added.
Felix last won Best Student newspaper in 2006. For more information about the various student media at Imperial please visit the Imperial College Union website: www.imperialcollegeunion.co.uk/
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