18th November 2025
Two students win their dream journalism prize
Hello everyone,
Imagine getting money-can’t-buy access to a live journalism environment for your students. That’s exactly what happened for two of our winners who spent a day shadowing Liz Hunt, Senior Associate Editor at the Daily Mail.
At the Shine School Media Awards we reward the UK’s most talented secondary school students creating a school newspaper, magazine or podcast with incredible prizes. This is the story of what happened next…
Work experience is increasingly difficult for young people to acquire, especially in the media industry. So, a chance to spend a day in the Newsroom at the Daily Mail is a highly valued prize offered to the recipient of the Editor of the Year in the Shine School Media Awards.
This year we welcomed joint winners: Lucy Green, 18, from Durham School where she edited The Durham Magazine, and Rebecca Flinn, 15, from Osbourne School, Winchester, who oversaw #Osbourne Fashion Edition.
Both pupils ‘shadowed’ Senior Associate Editor (and Duty Editor of the Daily Mail on the day), Liz Hunt, attending news and feature conferences, conducting research for the Features Desk, learning about the differing demands of print, Mail Online and M+ and observing the production process from commissioning of ideas to design of pages and headline writing.
For Lucy, the highlight was seeing how quickly the Newsroom reacted as a big story broke late on in the day – the resignation of BBC DG Tim Davie.
“It was a brilliant insight into staying calm under pressure as well the teamwork needed across the print and digital platforms,’ she said. ‘It was a fantastic day. Thank you.”
Rebecca, who has a special interest in fashion, relished a peek into the ‘Fashion Cupboard’ and joined in a lively discussion on the Inspire section. She described it as a “great experience that is useful for my future”.
Entering the Shine Awards offers students a chance to win unique experiences that could shape their future career. As we’ve seen here, sometimes that forms an understanding of the professional world beyond school.
I’d like to personally thank the team at the Daily Mail, particularly Liz Hunt, for setting this up for Lucy and Rebecca and offering them this outstanding opportunity.
Best wishes
Richard Chapman
Chair of Shine