Sean Lightbown (pictured top), who has just finished his degree in politics with economics, has the chance of making his dreams of being a sports journalist come true. He is taking this summer’s intensive course in magazine journalism, run by PMA Media Training in London, with the SJA paying half of his course fee.
“This is terrific news,” said Sean, who comes from Bolton. “I applied for the bursary, but didn’t really think I’d win it.”
Sean has been sports editor for two years on the university newspaper, managing a team of writers and setting them briefs. “Proof-reading and sub-editing into the small hours on the university newspaper have given me an introduction to the kind of hours I can expect!”
SJA committee member Keith Elliott (pictured below) said: “We were very impressed by Sean’s maturity and by what he had done with the university’s sports pages. He’s got the right attitude and I reckon he’ll do very well.”
During the intensive nine-week course, Sean will cover all the core skills needed by today’s journalist, from news-writing, feature-writing, sub-editing, design, law, shorthand and working online to shooting and editing video. And with PMA claiming to get an average of 95% of graduates into journalism jobs within eight weeks of the course ending, it bodes well for Sean's future career.
The SJA makes the bursary award twice yearly. More details from the SJA website at www.sportsjournalists.co.uk.
More details of the intensive magazine journalism course from www.becomeajournalist.co.uk
