10th March 2026
Tristan Clark-Lam on finding stories on your doorstep
Hello everybody,
This week on ‘Ask the Winner,’ I’m talking to Tristan Clark-Lam, who attended two Shine Awards ceremonies and won at both – first for Scoop of the Year and Non-Fiction Writer of the Year, then returning the following year for more success as runner up in the Terry Mansfield CBE Award for Tomorrow’s Talent.
His story began with The Martlet, his school newspaper and a club that met weekly over tea and biscuits to discuss “what makes a good school paper and what do we want our school paper to achieve?”
“It was across school years,” Tristan explains. “A really nice time to spend every week with people from across the school, focusing around this project which everyone was really passionate about. The fact that I had mentors from years above and editors who passed on the reins throughout the school years really created a sense of community.”
The asylum seeker interview
Tristan’s Scoop of the Year article was an interview with an asylum seeker facing deportation under the Rwanda plan – the previous government’s policy to deport refugees to the African nation of Rwanda.
“When you read stuff in the news that you disagree with, know that you have power to be able to have your take on certain media narratives. I had previously been volunteering with refugees and asylum seekers with a local charity on my doorstep.”
He’d seen from mainstream media how polarising the debate had become. “Individual asylum seekers were becoming dehumanised and turned into simple statistics or numbers. I felt that being able to read about and empathise with an individual case was really important for people’s understanding of the crisis.”
“Behind all these political touchstone issues are actual people. That’s why journalism is really important – being able to get out into your community, find the stories on your doorstep and write them up. The stories that you’re passionate about.”
Three issues a year, growing confidence
The Martlet published three issues annually – one per term. “It meant that people could read the school events summarised or student takes on national stories. We also introduced an exclusive interview with one of the school teachers or members of the school community in every issue. They were really lighthearted with a personal touch and people loved them.”
The first issue was 16 pages. “We were still getting to grips with the editing software.” By the final issue, it had grown to 24 pages as they became more confident.
The core club had about 20 regular members, but Tristan and deputy editor Henry were conscious that many students wanted to contribute without attending every week. “It looks good on UCAS applications, job applications. We had quite a lot of staff writers for each issue, writing on topics they were passionate about. You shouldn’t feel like everyone who writes needs to be obliged to attend every session.”
Balancing national news and school stories
When Trump entered office for his second term, everyone wanted to write about it. “But we don’t have the national access that national journalists do. These articles would just be rehashes of national news pieces and wouldn’t actually contribute much to what we believe the school paper should be.”
The solution? “We wanted to hear your student voices. We took a more comment-type approach – like the comment sections in newspapers.”
Under Tristan and Henry’s editorship, they steered towards more school-based news while maintaining student opinion on national topics. “In our political system, young voices are constantly repressed or under-reported. The school newspaper provides a really important outlook for that.”
The doors that opened
Through winning Scoop of the Year, Tristan connected with Paul Clements, deputy voices editor at The Independent (and a Shine judge).
“Paul invited me to The Independent offices in London. He very kindly offered to take a pitch from me for a story. We agreed out a pitch, I wrote it up, The Independent paid me – which was brilliant – and I was published in a national publication. I’ve stayed in contact and written another story for Paul.”
He also successfully applied to The Spectator‘s internship programme. “They commented on a really professional writing style that I developed through the school newspaper. I had a great time in the Westminster offices and wrote up a few scoops for them.”
Teamwork and succession planning
Tristan’s advice for student publications? “The most important thing is your team. You need to know your team, be in constant communication, and know that the paper can only be created to a high quality when everyone is working towards a shared goal. You can’t take the whole burden on yourself. Teamwork makes the dream work.”
The Martlet‘s structure: Editor (Tristan), Deputy Editor and Designer (Henry), then section editors for news, sport, culture and comment, then staff writers. “Section editors had responsibility for proofing, which meant Henry and I didn’t feel obliged to read and proof every single article before we got into the designing stages. Sharing the workload while giving other people the responsibility to learn essential skills.”
When it came time to hand over, Tristan and Henry created an internal examination process. They made section editors sit an exam, marked it, then interviewed the nominations. “We appointed Nathan Chesterpole, who hopefully you’ll see at the next Shine.”
I hope Tristan’s story shows you that the best journalism comes from finding stories on your doorstep – and building a team structure that creates real community.
Enter the 2026 Shine School Media Awards
– with our new entry form now online
Could your school magazine, newspaper or podcast be this year’s winner? The Shine School Media Awards celebrate student journalism and school media projects that give young people a genuine voice.
Entry is open to all UK schools. Winners receive money-can’t-buy experiences including mentoring from industry professionals, newsroom visits and work experience opportunities.
We’re back next week with more Ask the Winners,
Richard
Chair of Shine