Entries are now open for Staffordshire University’s Future Journalist Awards 2023.

The annual event is run by third-year Sports Journalism students at Staffordshire University and aims to discover the next generation of reporters, bloggers and vloggers.

Organisers are looking for children, from primary and secondary schools, sixth form and FE colleges to enter.

Applicants need to write an article, review or create a short video or audio on any news or sport subject that fires their imagination.

The official launch event takes place this Friday, November 14, in the broadcast newsroom at the university campus off College Road, Stoke. It will be available to watch online via the awards’ YouTube channels.

Ian Bayley is one of the course leaders at the university. He said: “The awards have been running for over a decade now but they’ve grown in popularity and become an event in the schools and colleges calendar.

“The aim is very much still the same as when we started this off – we want to encourage young people to get involved in writing, and more than that, writing about things that they have a passion and a love for.

“We’d also love to find some journalism stars of the future and introduce them to our state-of-the-art newsroom facilities.”

The competition is open to those between the ages of seven and 18 and encompasses the newer aspects of journalism such as audio and video.

Ian said the format for the awards was always evolving and the competition was now attracting entries from way beyond Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire.

He added: “When we started this, it was all about written news stories and  I think we referred to it as awards for ‘young writers’, however, we’ve seen huge advances in technology and the advent of online news and social media. Lots of people are now podcasting or video blogging.

“That means we’ve broadened our reach to audio and video entries.”

“If entrants want to make a piece of audio or a piece of video, about any topic of interest, we want to read, listen to or watch it.

“It might be sport, it might be entertainment, it might be news, it might be environmental issues. It’s anything really. So, you’ve got all those different subject areas in all those different formats –  there’s something for everyone to have a go at.

“The Future Journalist Awards are open to young people internationally, we no longer just have a regional audience.”

There’s prizes on offer and finalists will be invited to a ‘one-of-a-kind’ awards evening at The Catalyst Building in Stoke-on-Trent in spring 2023.