The University of Warwick’s student newspaper, The Boar, has been celebrated at the Student Publication Association National Awards.


The annual ceremony celebrated the best student newspapers, magazines, and journalists for innovative and impactful work produced over the past 12 months.

The Boar secured three awards including:

• Best Creative Piece, Greetings and Goodbye by Zoé Barret.

• Best Interview, What’s the Big Issue? A frank conversation on homelessness by Eden Fall-Bailey.

• Highly Commended: Best News Story, Warwick student ‘failed by the justice system’ after Sherbourne stabbing sentencing by Archie Clarke and Luke Chapman.

Zoé Barret, winner of Best Creative Piece said, "I am incredibly honoured and happy to have won the award for Best Creative Piece. This poem represented the things I love most about university, an environment where you learn to live independently but also necessarily with others, in a way that your friends become family. These are feelings I will always associate with Warwick and I am glad I could share them.”

“Working with The Boar this year was an amazing experience, and I am grateful for the people I’ve met and this platform as a whole that encourages all types of writing and expressions to come forward."

Archie Clarke and Luke Chapman, highly commended for Best News Story said, “We’re incredibly pleased to have been highly commended for this award. It was such an important article to get right as both of us have heard so many different versions of the original story. We put a lot of effort into ensuring the facts were right, and we hope this story has provided a definitive narrative for the Warwick student community.”

Eden Fall-Bailey, winner of Best Interview said, "I'm super honoured to be accepting this award but the real recognition should go to Frank. It's also refreshing to see non-traditional media stories being acknowledged!"


This year the awards attracted more than 1,200 entries making them the UK’s biggest journalism awards. Nominations were judged by a diverse range of top editors and journalists from media organisations including the BBC, Sky News, The Guardian, The Times, OK Magazine, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, and openDemocracy.

Judges paid tribute to the high standards of work submitted, acknowledging that many pieces would fit perfectly into national publications.




Aubrey Allegretti, a Trustee for the SPA who is also Chief Political Correspondent for The Times said, "Student journalists have produced some phenomenal work this year. They conducted important investigative work, and kept their audiences informed and entertained in equal measure. Despite the threat of funding cuts, student journalists are still the lifeblood of their campus communities. They have campaigned on a range of important issues and continued to innovate to give a voice to the voiceless. I am confident our winners will follow those before them into the profession and become the industry leaders of tomorrow."

ENDS


Notes to editors

The full list of winners were:

• · Best Student Photographer - Mia Wilson (Quench Magazine)

• · Best Creative Piece - “Greetings and Goodbye”, Zoé Barret (The Boar)

• · Best Arts or Culture Piece - "The History of Sussex Music: From Jimi Hendrix to… Nothing?”, Harry Turnbull and Isabella Poderico (The Badger)

• · Best Lifestyle Piece - “The Language of Cooking”, Selina Chen (Cherwell)

• · Best Comment Piece - “Apology to my mum; or, why I’ll be arrested”, Cameron Baillie (The Beaver)

• · Best Science or Tech Piece - “Trust me, I'm an Exorcist”, Zoya Gul (RUMS Review)

• · Best Interview - “What’s the Big Issue? A Frank conversation on homelessness”, Eden Fall-Bailey, The Boar

• · Best Feature - "Lost in Translation: Exchange Students Condemn College’s Poor Communication”, Phoebe Pascoe and Hosanna Boulter, The University Times

• · Best Investigation - “KCL Tories Event Features Fascist Armband And Far-Right Language”, Daisy Eastlake and Diana Rajabalinia, Roar News

• · Best News Story - “(Modern Languages Department on the chopping block as UoA faces £15m shortfall“, Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco, The Gaudie

• · Rising Star (Best Newcomer) - Semhar (Semi) Tesfazgy, The Badger

• · Best Culture Writer - Phoebe Pascoe, The University Times

• · Best Sports Reporter - Joseph Saunders, Palatinate

• · Best Reporter - Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco, The Gaudie

• · Billy Dowling-Reid Award for Outstanding Commitment - Fintan Hogan, Roar News

• · Best Sport Publication or Section(s) - Palatinate

• · Best Science Publication or Section(s) - The Courier

• · Best Culture Publication or Section(s) - Quench

• · Best Project or Initiative - Podcasts by Palatinate

• · Best Website - The Mancunion

• · Best Overall Digital Media - Roar News

• · Best Design (Magazine) - The Croft

• · Best Design (Newspaper) - The Gaudie

• · Best Newcomer Publication - People Behind the Headlines

• · Best Specialist Publication - Strand Magazine

• · Best Publication - The Student

The SPA is a charity that supports, trains and awards student journalists who work on over 200 publications across the UK and Ireland.

The awards were held during the largest student media conference, the SPA National Conference (known as SPANC), in Bristol on Saturday 13 April.