A Nottingham Trent University student has become student online journalist of the year for the fourth year running.Rebecca Appleton, who graduated with an MA in journalism, was awarded a gold-plated certificate and £500 prize money at the awards ceremony in London on 9 September.
Nottingham Trent students have won the online journalism award every year since Press Gazette launched the Student Journalism Awards in 2001 - an achievement described as 'remarkable' by Richard Ventre, Miss Appleton's tutor.
Her articles on shopping in New York and classroom violence - created for the university website - were praised by the judges, who included Press Gazette editor Ian Reeves and Times photographer Richard Cannon.
Ms Appleton's recognition helped her attain her dream job for Spanish-based website marbellas.com, where she now works as assistant editor.
She credits Nottingham's online success to its strong integration with broadcast courses.
"This gives us a great understanding of the possibilities online affords – we're encouraged to film audio and video reports each week so our practical journalism invariably includes a host of multimedia resources," she said.
The MA in online journalism was created in collaboration with organisations including the BBC and Sky News. The course also has high-profile visiting lecturers including Jon Snow and Kate Adie.
"Teaching and engineering support was excellent for the entire duration of the course," she told journalism.co.uk.
"As a relatively new medium, the possibilities afforded by online journalism are expanding daily.
"It's impossible for universities and training organisations to keep up to date with all of these developments but I feel we received the grounding and guidance necessary to adapt to and work with these changes."
A further seven Nottingham Trent students were shortlisted in other award sections including radio journalist of the year and student interviewer of the year.
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