Kingston University's River Newspaper account

While the good old-fashioned reporting skills of our team at the Guardian award-winning River Newspaper were second to none, I think much of our success last year could be attributed to the @RiverNewspaper Twitter account and our use of other social media.

2010 was the first year the newspaper had entered the Twittersphere and although there were arguably lots of ways we could have better used the account, it was incredibly useful when it came to sourcing stories, potential interviewees, trends and engaging with our readers.

Unlike many other student publications, The River Newspaper is print only, meaning we couldn’t easily use the account for self-promotion. However, this may have even been the key to its success; rather than simply tweeting links to our latest stories, we took advantage of the rest of the tools Twitter has to offer. My only regret is that we didn’t use it more often due to lack of time. I forsee a “social media editor” role arising on the paper before long.

Right, so you’ve signed up to Twitter, plonked your newspaper’s logo as your profile picture and explained what your publication is all about in the bio. Now what?

Here comes the “how to use it part”!

FOLLOW THE RIGHT PEOPLE

Add your university friends, their university friends and their university friends’ friends. Follow your local council and any other local business with an account. And of course, follow all your university’s Twitter accounts.

By now you should be following at least 100 tweeps. But this isn’t enough.

Often student newspapers suffer due to lack of contacts – it’s difficult to build up a good relationship with the emergency services’ press departments, for example, when you’re only in the role for a year (Or in Kingston University’s case a couple of months!) – but Twitter helps you overcome this hurdle.

At Kingston we did this the long way around by using the Find People option on the Twitter site and searching for “Kingston University”, “Kingston Uni”, “Kingston”, “Surbiton”, “Norbiton” etc.

But Mashable has a fantastic list of 9 ways to find local people on Twitter which is far more useful and will save you lots of time.

LINK

You’re ready to rock. Say hello to the world and start using your Twitter wisely.

For those of you lucky enough to have a digital arm to your publication, you must obviously let your followers know about any new interesting stories. A tip: don’t just CTRL+V your headline when linking to stories, try and sum up the story in a different way so the tweet doesn’t look like an autobot.

But don’t just link to your own material. Show you’re interested in the local community and welfare of your students by letting your followers know about other news too. This can be articles from the council press office, stories from other papers, interesting local blogs, or national student-interest pieces such as the latest from the NUS.

And (Perhaps just a personal preference) ALWAYS, ALWAYS use bit.ly . That way you can analyse who reads your links and which stories are the most popular.

GIVE YOUR ACCOUNT A VOICE

TwitPic on press night

The best media Twitter accounts don’t simply farm out link after link of endless new content; they have a personality. Some good examples of these type of accounts in the wider media are: @heatworld , @iNewspaper and @THEFLYMAGAZINE .

Some easy ways to put yourselves into your account:

Twitpic – Upload a photo of your newsroom’s shocking Ubuntu habit (That can’t have just been us), get an image of your latest interviewee (With permission of course) – showcase your on-patch reporting live and prove your’re not just stuck to your desk

Let people know what you’re up to – Putting together a newspaper is exciting, chat about your triumphs and woes.

Exclusivity – Make your Twitter followers feel as though they’re getting more than the average reader. This can be in the form of competitions, leaking what’s coming up in the next issue and letting them know of special events/live news taking place at the uni or locally.

ENGAGE – That leads me to my next point, let me bold that up…

ENGAGE

Twitter is a conversation. Join it. If a student you follow mentions they have a big exam tomorrow, wish them good luck; if someone is wondering where to go out tonight, recommend a local club with a good drinks promotion; if someone links to an interesting article, give them some feedback rather than passively pressing the RT button.

Your student media account should have just as many @s at the start of every Tweet than those without. Make sure your paper is just as much of a personality in the local community as the mayor.

Another fantastic way to engage is to tweet live news with national or considerably high local interest. The recent student protests were an excellent example of student newspapers advertising themselves and their journalism prowess on a national scale. The same can be done for local news such as accidents, fires, shop opening and celebrity visits. You don’t even need a flash smartphone. Activate Twitter Mobile on your settings and you can text from the scene even with a Nokia 3310.

SOURCING

By employing the engagement tactics above you not only may have made some new buddies, but you’ve also gained a pool of potential interviewees beyond your own friends and students in the same department.

Spend time each day to study your news feed and make note of any possible story leads. Twitter gives you the easy option of getting in contact immediately if you need to make follow ups.

Often when we needed to get a big picture-view about what the student population was thinking, we employed the use of Survey Monkey. It’s an easy-to-use free tool and the link to your survey can easily be publicised and RT-ed. The results of one River Newspaper survey completed in this way even led to the student journo being paid by the Daily Mail for use of the results in a page lead article.

If the newslist is still looking a bit dry I’d thoroughly recommend Kurrently which gives you lightning-fast cross-social media updates on whichever key word you desire and Twitterfall with its geolocation tweet search option.

Of course Twitter doesn’t MAKE a publication, but it certainly helps when it comes to attracting more readers, brand-building and finding new stories.

Have I missed anything out? Please let me know, I’d be happy to read and discuss your suggestions.

We won the Guardian Student Media Awards Publication of the Year!

We really did win it, honest

In the moments and days following the ceremony it was quite bizarre to be on the other side of the journalists’ dictaphone. I now really feel for interviewees as it’s rather difficult trying to say the same thing in a different way a dozen times over.

So I won’t say any more here as I’ve literally run out of soundbytes, but I thought I’d compile all the coverage – for my mum and all that:

The Guardian - ’Students put their protests to one side at the Guardian media awards’

Journalism.co.uk – ‘Kingston Uni paper wins student publication of the year at Guardian awards’

Press Gazette – ‘Kingston Uni paper named student publication of the year’

Kingston Informer – ‘Kingston University newspaper wins top award’

Wannabe Hacks – GSMA – Kingston Uni: we won “because we took risks”

http://en.rian.ru/columnists/20101109/161259164.html

This great post from deputy editor-in-chief of the Russian Marie Claire reminded me of my similar (Not-so-great) post “Am I a bit too much of a girl for all of this?” back in March.

Sky takes ‘poppy fascism’ to the max

http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/axegrinder/2010/11/09/sky-news-takes-poppy-fascism-to-the-max/

It’s as if we never defeated Hitler

Lily Allen’s publicist Murray Chalmers hits out at Guardian over interview

http://www.prweek.com/news/bulletin/UKDaily/article/1039820/?DCMP=EMC-CONUKDaily

I feel for Lily, but I’m inclined to go with the Guardian on this one. There was no malice and the interview is a positive one, not reputation-damaging.

Service please! Why publishing is more than creating content

http://www.journalism.co.uk/news-commentary/service-please-why-publishing-is-more-than-creating-content/s6/a541363/

More posts like this will help the old school publishers realise what online publishing is all about; it’s not about sticking up all your print verbatim on your website, it’s about providing a service.

@vhernandezCNN FACT: I try to spend about an hour each day searching Twitter for intriguing top talent we may want to recruit. #openingupnewdoors

That’s right, the all-platform journalist programme manager for CNN, Victor Hernandez,  spends an hour of his time each day trawling Twitter for fresh new talent. He went on to explain that he looks with no job position in mind but is “always looking for smart, creative, innovative folks…then [goes] from there”.

That’s reason enough.

If your blog is for your niche specialisms, Twitter is the tool to show off all the other interesting parts of your character.

So the drunken Tweets at 4am (Not too many of these if you have the name of your company in your bio), your blatant Tim Vine joke rip-offs and rambles about being on the bus with smelly people are all the constituent parts that make you great. As arbitrary as it may seem, these are the types of Tweets that prove you’ll be a fun person to work with, will help you gain followers and show that you’re not just tied down to one subject.

Of course, your feed can’t just be littered with dirge.The perfect Twitter account strikes a balance between fun, linking to your blog, linking to other interesting bits and pieces on the web, photos and conversations.

Not as easy as it sounds, but to help you along the way here are my top tips to journo students for using Twitter effectively:

1) Build a community. Don’t just follow your friends and celebrities. Instead, build a community of followers around your interests. Follow all the interesting people local to you and local to your uni, follow your journalism lecturers (What do you mean they don’t have Twitter?!), follow everyone to do with your  favourite football team or music scene and most importantly – FOLLOW JOURNALISTS (Use Stephen Davies’s blog if you need inspiration)!

2) Check, check and check again. Treat every Tweet as if it is your first feature article for the Guardian. If you can’t Tweet employing all the rules of spelling, grammar and fact checking, then there’s no point Tweeting at all.

3) Use your time wisely. I have mentioned this before in a previous post, but the trick to Twitter (And the industry itself) is being in the right place at the right time. If you happen to find yourself up early or late, this is the perfect time to engage with your potential future employers, as they’re unlikely to have a deluge of @replies from every other chancer like the peak times. And, on the other hand, don’t link to your blog and expect anyone to read it while X Factor is on.

4) Be helpful. Often journalists use Twitter to crowdsource – it got me my first mention in the Guardian. Sometimes those you follow might just want to know the perfect recipe for carrot cake. Whatever their aim, your goal should be to lend a hand. Not only can you feel as though you’ve done a good deed and share your knowledge, it all helps to build engagement within your new-found community.

5) Help yourself. Free promotion is a wonderful thing. The majority of my blog readers are directed from Twitter (Hello!), so make sure the majority of your followers are reading your blog. If you link them, they will come. But don’t advertise yourself too much. A couple of promos at different times of day is more than enough. And don’t just link to your own work – link to anything you find interesting that you think others need to see. But keep the surfing dogs and music videos to a minimum and try to keep the majority of your links as niche as your blog. Aim to post at least one link a day (And if you can post photos, all the better as these always get more interest as they require less time investment from the viewer). Use Bit.ly and monitor which links get the most clicks and post more of the same in future.

Twitter can get you a job and it’s just as important as your CV, blog, portfolio and all your qualifications – it completes your toolkit.

I’m @larakiara by the way.

Coming up soon: Why every student publication needs to have a Twitter account (And how to use it)

Firstly, the most exciting news OF THE YEAR: Kingston University’s River Newspaper which I (and 3 others) edited last term has been nominated for the Guardian Student Media Awards’ Publication of the Year. It looks as though we’re up against some bloody stiff competition, but I’ll keep you informed of our progress at the ceremony on November 24th. Keep everything crossed for us, I think it’ll be the first time Kingston University has ever won a GSMA (not to mention us students!) so it’ll be a fantastic accolade to compliment the months of sheer hard work and endurance.

I’ve also been doing the odd freelance shift on the news desk at Marketing Week. I got up to things like this, this and this.

Faithful readers may also remember my various freelance contributions at Press Gazette. That’s now turned into a regular stint and I will be writing the Press Gazette “insiders’ briefing” for each issue. September’s issue was all on academies and free schools and coming up in October’s issue will be all you need to know about transport. Print subscription only I’m afraid. But you do get a free USB stick when you sign up, so it almost makes it worthwhile having to read my writing.

And lastly, I have also been involved with the launch of X Magazine. You can even see my ugly mug in the first issue. Unfortunately not as one of the models adorning the fashion pages, but cuddling up to Stacey Solomon like a stalker. Rumour has it I’ll be back there again soon (X Magazine, not Solomon’s armpit) but no news as of yet.

That’s pretty much my lot for now. Still scouting for something a little more permanent but I do optimistically feel as though I’m on the edge of a breakthrough soon.

The Olympic Borough homepage

You have a full-time and – what appears to be – a quite demanding job. How do you find the time to keep the blog up to date too?

God knows. It’s mainly a combination of late nights, and staying on late at work. Luckily WordPress is an extremely easy CMS to use – therefore whipping up a quick post on a lunch break is pretty simple too.

Does the blog have longevity, do you think it will last beyond the Olympics?

I haven’t really thought that far ahead, and I think the appeal for me was in having a set period of time to dedicate to the project. I find it gives the blog more purpose, and allows me to plan better when key events are taking place over the coming months.

I guess, should the blog prove popular long term, it can carry on past 2012. After all, most of the themes that keep pouring from politicians’ mouths is legacy – so I guess you could say the best time to write about it may even be after the event anyway. Newham will forever be the Olympic borough if you ask me – such a dramatic transformation will define this generation and the next.

What comments and feedback have you received about the blog so far?

It’s early days, but reaction has been positive. Right now, I’m building up some good relationships with the key people in the area – the police, the council and so on. Part of this involves simply sending them the link to see if they find it interesting – and so far reactions have been along the lines of “Oh, I didn’t know about that…”. That tells me I’m doing it right, I think.

How do interviewees react when you say what you are reporting for?

I find if I’m absolutely frank about what I’m doing with the stories they are very keen. Normally, when introducing myself, I just say I run a local news blog. When approaching for a story, I make it clear that the story is for the blog – but some stories may be sold to the wider press. Both strategies seem to get the same results – and when it comes to the council and other ‘big’ groups, I think the draw of it being a friendly, local site plays in my favour.

Are you planning to make any money from the blog?

Yes. In two ways – first, selling stories. I’ve placed one so far -  which went down pretty well. They require much more work than most blog posts, so I’m aiming for 1-2 of these per month.

Also, I’m looking to get an advertiser on board. Rather than opting for Google Ads, I’m planning to give it a little bit of thought – and right now I think the most logical option would be something from the property sector. People are flooding to Newham – and estate agents are scrambling to get ahead. Fingers crossed.

How are the stats looking? What are you actively doing to drive traffic?

Stats are decidedly modest – but it is steadily building as more links come in and my Google rank increases. Twitter is a good driver of traffic – and I promote each post, as well as indulging in general chat with followers.

Where do you tend to get your stories from?

I live in the area, and I’m delighted to say I get most of my stories by just keeping my eyes open and seeing what’s happening – or rather just getting in touch with places I know will be affected, such as the local theatre.

I have a rather nifty stream of news coming in from Google Reader – a feed of search terms involving stories about Newham, Olympics, Stratford etc – as well as Google email alerts for any related terms. Twitter is brilliant, a search for ‘Newham’ brings up some really great leads, although that was less useful last month when Snoop Dogg mentioned the “Newham Generals” in his feed, therefore swamping out any other tweets about the area.

Do you stories follow a pre-defined format – in terms of style, content or whatever other rules you may keep to?

I don’t really have a styleguide, but I’m conscious that posts shouldn’t be any longer than they need to be – particularly when I’m dealing with some of the length information that comes from the Olympic press offices.

Content is strictly focused on things caused by the Olympics in Newham. This is quite a wide remit, but it does mean I can filter out any non-Newham specific Olympic news (mainly the sports themselves) and other Newham stories that would have happened whether the Olympics were coming to town or not. It provides a manageable but exciting beat to cover.

Have you enjoyed making the blog so far? Is there anything you’d like to change?

The blog has been fantastic for me so far. Its given me the avenue to stretch my reporting legs in a way my current full-time work at the BBC doesn’t allow.

The only thing I would change is the limitations on my time! I’m in the process of working out how I can get more people involved. I’ve had to pass on two potentially good stories due to work commitments – so being able to call upon some other locals to put in a couple of hours here and there would be really great.

I’m a firm believer in paying for good work, so I’m trying to establish a stronger revenue stream before I go hunting for people to write for me, but I like to think it’s just around the corner.

What advice would you give to others looking to start up their own hyperlocal blog?

Good question – and I’m not sure I’ve been doing it long enough to have learned the real lessons about what works and what doesn’t.

That said, in the couple of months since The Olympic Borough started, it strikes me that the most important thing is to stick rigidly to the area and the subjects you want to cover. You’ll always be scooped by mainstream media on run-of-the-mill stories, but if you narrow out your beat into something defined, a blogger’s more considered approach will potentially dig out stories which the local newspaper men can’t manage. And they’ll be better, of course!

The last feature I worked on for Press Gazette is now available in a FREE e-zine format. Which is nice.

Here it is:

Right…here!

It’s sad to say that a journalism degree, NCTJ and a portfolio stuffed full of clippings seem to count for very little when it comes to applying for that first journalism job. The benchmark has been raised.

What now matters more than ever is innovative thinking, beyond that of the old-school skills (newsgathering, a concise writing style, a good knowledge of the audience, a wider interest in the subject matter and so on) that are still prerequisites.

Although some are natural pioneers and no doubt already have fantastic jobs on the back of their quick-thinking, willingness and original new journalism projects (I’m looking at you Josh Halliday), innovation is a skill that can be learnt.

Unfortunately education in the subject on innovation is to the sacrifice of your free time. The only way to become truly innovative is to know exactly what your competitors and colleagues are planning for the future at all times in order to stay one step ahead.

And how is this possible?

Twitter is one of the most important weapons in the arsenal. Start following all the important journalists (Stephen Davies’s blog has quite a comprehensive list and Muckrack is quite helpful although mostly US-based), PR/marketing figureheads and standout local people; listen to what they are saying and click the links they post.

But to be truly innovative you must go further than listening, posting where you went last night and shamelessly advertising your blog. Start interacting with your potential employers. Comment on their blog posts, send useful links around the topics they are talking about and link to their blog from yours. Often they may not reply, but your voice will have been heard. A tip to get that memorable interaction is to get yourself on Twitter outside the busy times. Tweet from bed at 7am and send your @replies when few people are about. You’re far more likely to receive some @replies back and start up a relationship.

Once Twitter is sussed the innovative journalist needs to interact from beyond the computer screen. After all, journalism is all about networking and contacts. There are masses of local journalism events (Especially in London) to attend that help fill up your address book but also help give you a wider knowledge of the buzz topics of the day.

Particular highlights include Schmooze and Booze, a massive young journo networking event now in its fifth year; Future of News Groups, which are springing up all around the UK; and the new Three Billion Club, which connects young creatives to media leaders and entrepreneurs.

The innovative journalist won’t just attend but they will participate. Offer to live blog from the event and set up a hashtag to Tweet throughout. Another tip is to turn up early and chat to whoever else is about while they still have time. Find out the running order and quickly research ideas in order to make some valid input. Use the event to keep your blog fresh and write a summary of the evening.

Make your blog your CV. Don’t just use it to post your old features and stories, use it as an open forum to discuss what’s important in your particular area. Update regularly and advertise your posts (Sparingly) on Twitter. Comment on other people’s blog posts and link what your reading to your updates.

Lastly, as much as possible, never say no. If you have the time to get involved in something journalism-related or something that could potentially lead to a story, do it, despite the fact that it is for free and will dent into your leisure time.

Any new participation with your name attached builds your brand equity on the web (Yes, Google has made you a brand. None of this ‘indie journalism’ nonsense round here.) and will teach you new skills, help to build new contacts and further your journalism knowledge.

Any experience is valuable as I learnt when I hesitantly said yes to being on the panel in a football podcast in June. Not only did I have great fun in the end but it proved invaluable when I was recently asked in a job interview if I had ever done anything for radio.

Much has been said of entrepreneurial journalism; being self-sufficient and starting your own project such as a hyperlocal news site. I have said in a previous post on my blog, not everyone has the time, money and the nouse to start up their own full-time projects (Especially if they’re having to hold down a full-time job until they get their journo break), but innovation can start small. Following the tips above will certainly put new journalists a step ahead of their peers who are using old-fashioned methods to break into the industry.

Using social media, attending events, blogging and participating in whatever is thrown at you will help make your idea pool less of a blank slate. You’ll know what is ground-breaking and have ideas on what needs to be done to improve new ideas that are already out there. You’ll have thought pieces to bring to interviews and you may even inspire lots of experienced journalists by having a less-veiled point of view. New journalists need to understand new journalism as much as their publication in order to keep ahead of their game.

And landing yourself in a top journalism role doesn’t mean you should stop implementing the skills above. Twitter, good networking skills and a wide up-to-date knowledge of the subjects of today will keep the new journalist’s writing and newsgathering new, informed and, most importantly (just in case you haven’t realised the theme of this post yet), innovative. New journalists can’t afford to leave the dayjob at work, they must constantly interact and challenge their industry if they are to become the ground-breaking seasoned journalists of tomorrow.

But a quick scan of Gorkana for journo jobs posted yesterday doesn’t make for positive reading:

• Culture editor for a national newspaper’s website (Our survey says…icht-ichtttt. How do you spell that noise?)
• Freelance correspondent for a football website (A viable option, but it’s hardly going to cover the rent)
• Showbiz writer maternity cover for a women’s weekly (Must have experience, contacts…icht-ichtttt)
• Senior features writer for a women’s weekly (Senior? Icht-ichtttt)
• Production editor for a festivals company (Possible if you’re a star, but hardly journalism)
• Staff writer for a financial services company (Definitely a chance, but it’s far from sexy)
• Loans/IFR editor for a news agency (I don’t even need to write down the sodding sound effect)

The only job that seems achievable is a  junior picture researcher role at a women’s weekly. No writing involved obviously, but it’s a foot in the door and a chance to impress.

Rather like an internship…

Any wannabe journo should expect to take on some form of unpaid work experience to further their career. We shouldn’t be so arrogant to think that everything we write should have a price tag attached to it and equally we should enjoy giving away our words and time because we should enjoy the craft. No journo grad should expect to get a role just on the back of their university newspaper cuttings – jobs come off the back of contacts, references, contacts and contacts (and contacts).

But when certain sectors of journalism EXPECT juniors to take on months on end of unpaid dogsbody work until they are offered to an interview for an upcoming role – let alone the actual job – one starts to wonder how the thousands of journalism grads, ladened in debt from their uni years, can ever break their way into the industry.

It’s not that there aren’t the jobs and opportunities out there. They’re about but not always advertised. With the journalism industry struggling financially, it’s an editor’s dream to sack a senior reporter and their bulging salary and take on a bright young thing to replace them.  And perhaps if you work for two years unpaid at a publication they’ll offer the job to you for £250 a week and some free teabags.

Faithful followers of this blog may remember my last post where I said I was to pursue the NCTJ, after countless rejection letters for not having the coveted qualification – despite all the relevant experience from my university course and work placements.

Unfortunately that’s yet another avenue that’s closed for roadworks.

Although only a 16-week course, the NCTJ fast track is full-time with no hours left in the week for part-time work. Not only do NCTJ students have to pay for the course fees (Which are astronomical in some cases for such a short period of time) but they need to support themselves for the five months they study.

There’s few funding options other than the career development loan (More debt? Eek!) or the NCTJ’s Journalism Diversity Fund . Fortunately I was selected for interview for the fund. Unfortunately that obviously showed me up for not being diverse enough to deserve any money. Drat, back to square one.

The common theme seems to be that those able to break their way into the newsroom tend to only be those that can afford to do so. Those fortunate souls who can be bankrolled by their parents whilst they toddle off to Central London every day to tidy a fashion cupboard or transcribe hours of interviews for free.

Are these really the types of young journalists who are going to bring diversity to the newsroom? More importantly, do these types of people deserve to be there? Are they the best new journalists? Or are they just climbing up the ladder because they can afford to be exploited?

Granted, there are graduate training schemes – I have a neat pile of rejection letters from those too. But I know that one national newspaper offered its two places to an Oxbridge graduate (With little to no journalism experience) and a candidate whose redeeming quality is that they had someone very famous in the family. I’m sure the two candidates are also fantastic  writers and perfect for the job, but it doesn’t hold out much hope for the rest of us.

Lots has also been said of entrepreneurial journalism recently. Adam Westbrook has written a fabulous e-book about new ways to make money in journalism and hundreds of forward-thinkers around the country are starting to make money from hyperlocal news sites and niche blogs. It’s always refreshing to hear about new ideas and Adam’s e-book is certainly inspiring. But not everyone with good journalism skills is necessarily an entrepreneur and the qualities of an entrepreneur don’t always fit with those of a top journalist. And even if one is lucky enough to have a great idea and the writing skills to match, they need to devote their whole life to making it work. And a bootstrap business is hard to grow if you’re trying to hold down a full-time job at the same time in order to live.

The grads of 2010 have limited options if they want to pursue their journo careers. To open up the sector to the new generation of journalists there needs to be more funding options out there to continue training (I have no idea who will support this), more quirky grad schemes (Include training and development in social media and the journalism of tomorrow as well as the traditional news writing) and an end to unpaid internships longer than three months.

That way we can all afford to get involved and offer our skills, rather than the newsroom becoming ever more saturated with the privileged and never changing its dynamic despite the changing landscape of the way we deliver journalism (And who we deliver it to) and the types of people needed for the job.

The three years of boozing, late-night Red Bulls to accompany impending deadlines and sordid student digs have come to an unwelcome halt.

Quite unexpectedly it was the best three years of my life to date. And not even because of the extra-curricular goings on.

Before university, education and I were far from bosom buddies. School was an uphill slog of detentions, a ridiculous attitude towards authority and a general apathy at what the English education system had to offer.

College was no better. My attendance was worse than that of Pete Doherty at his gigs. I was almost slung out on more than one occasion and if it wasn’t for the fact that I still somehow managed to achieve good grades, my university years may never had happened.

At odds with education, I moved out of home and decided to work full-time, supplementing my tedious bank job with writing for music zines. It was then that I decided to give academia one final chance.

And I’m so grateful to myself that I did.

The journalism course at Kingston University is everything it sold itself to be and more. The teachers actually give a shit about you personally and always have time to offer solid advice on your work, despite the fact that it sometimes leaves them without a lunchbreak. They are amazing mentors and I’m sure we’ll still all keep in touch with them long beyond the summer.

The syllabus is diverse and challenging and I actually enjoyed attending and particpating in lessons (With magazine journalism, the newspaper sector today, ethics, law and writing the news being among my particular favourite modules). If any past teachers are reading this, they will probably be stifling their laughter at the moment or wondering whether they stumbled on the wrong Lara O’Reilly’s blog.

Obviously, the highlight had to be working on the Uni newspaper, The River. There’s a few clippings here as unfortunately we did not converge too much with the online version. I doubt there is a more professional standard of university newspaper in the UK and I think it would be a swizz if we don’t come away with something at the Guardian Student Media Awards. The work ethic was outstanding and there was probably more of a constant buzz of activity at press nights in our newsroom than those of some national newspapers.

For once I actually thrived as a student. My own mother burst out in hysterical laughter when I told her I had won “undergraduate student of the year” at this year’s journalism “Oscars”. I think I’ve come a long way since those college days.

Our graduation boat party on Thursday was a mixture of jubilation (Some of the pictures are hilarious) and almost a sense of loss. I’m sure I’ll be returning to Kingston many times over the next few years, but it’ll be very odd not walking those three flights of stairs and finding lots of people busily working away in the newsroom (No matter what day) ever again.

So what now?

While I have a couple of job offers on the horizon, it’s become very clear that more education is in order. A job that I wanted and had every chance of getting (And I was told the feeling was mutual from the employer) was put out of my reach because of the lack of four lucrative letters after my name. So, providing someone amazing doesn’t tap me up in the meantime (National newspaper, rich husband, Arsene Wenger…), the NCTJ course will be the next step.

Here’s hoping my six months there can be as fulfilling as my time as Kingston. I’m going to miss that university an awful lot.