Shine news

Shine 2025 – the winners

Congratulations to everyone who came along to the Shine School Media Awards 2025 today. It was a truly fantastic day, celebrating tomorrow’s talent with an incredible atmosphere and the biggest number of schools entering in many years.

Thank you to everyone who came and joined us and well done to all our winning and highly commended students.

 

Rising Stars

  • Blackfen School for Girls, Bexley
  • Charlton Cooper, Pate’s Grammar School, Cheltenham
  • Oasis Academy Hadley, Enfield
  • Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form, Darlington
  • Whitworth Park Academy, Durham

 

Best Magazine Cover

Sponsored by PrintWeek

Winner:

  • Bourne Identity, Bourne Grammar School, Lincolnshire

Highly commended:

  • The Wall, Ibstock Place School, Roehampton
  • The Beacon, King Edward VI’s Handsworth School for Girls, Birmingham

 

Best Newspaper Front Page

Sponsored by Pureprint Group

Winner:

  • The Martlet, Abingdon School, Oxfordshire

Highly commended:

  • The Reason, Ermysted’s Grammar School, Skipton
  • Hummersknott Academy, Darlington

 

Best Illustration and Artwork

Sponsored by The Artworks Illustration Agency

Winner:

  • ‘Vice President’ by Luciana Molina-Pethers, St John’s School, Leatherhead, The Eagle

Highly commended:

  • ‘Conspiracies’ by Winnie Zhuang, Bromsgrove School Worchester, Two Zero One
  • ‘The liberating power of music’ by Miya Hunt, Ibstock Place School, Roehampton, The Wall

 

Best Design

Sponsored by Barnard & Westwood

Winner:

  • The Eagle, St John’s School, Leatherhead

Highly commended:

  • EXiA, City of Norwich School
  • Café Scientifique, King’s High School, Warwick

 

Best Printed Publication

Sponsored by The Printing Charity

Winner

  • ‘Reveal’, Pate’s Grammar School, Cheltenham

Highly commended:

  • The Martlet, Abingdon School, Oxfordshire
  • The Beacon, King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls, Birmingham

 

Best Cartoon

Sponsored by The Cartoon Museum

Winner:

  • ‘They say I can serve for life’ by Oliver Merritt, The Martlet, Abingdon School, Oxfordshire

Highly commended:

  • ‘Journey of a tardigrade’ by Cherrie Li, Café Scientifique, Kings High School, Warwick
  • ‘Bottom’s dream’ by Ciara Herbert, View from the Hill, Lancing College, West Sussex

 

Best Business and Marketing Strategy

Sponsored by The Worshipful Company of Marketors

Winner:

  • Yarm School, North Yorkshire

Highly commended:

  • Ermysted’s Grammar School, Skipton

 

Best Sustainability Initiative

Sponsored by Picon

Winner:

  • The Wall. Ibstock Place School, Roehampton

Highly commended:

  • Reveal, Pate’s Grammar School, Cheltenham
  • Dovecote, Yarm School, North Yorkshire

Best Photograph

Sponsored by Sign Specialists

Winners:

  • ‘A view on the river’ by Alexander Nixon-Newton, The Durham Eye, Durham School, Durham
  • ‘Blyth pier’ by Cooper Bartlett, MOSAIC, Whitworth Park Academy, Durham

Highly commended:

  • ‘Dancing in a field’ by Jamine Dent, The Wall, Ibstock Place school, Roehampton
  • ‘Shattering expectations’ by Katie Drinkhall, Term, Tarporley High School & Sixth Form College, Chester


The Peter Day Award for Best Audio

Sponsored by Voodoo

Winner:

  • ‘The QE podcast’, Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, Darlington

Highly commended:

  • ‘A question of colour: Black boys in education’, Oasis Academy Hadley, Enfield
  • ‘The study room’, Global Academy, Hayes

 

Writer of the Year: Fiction

Sponsored by The Stationers’ Foundation

Winner:

  • ‘Within these roots’ by Chloe Dent, Ibstock Place School, Roehampton

Highly commended:

  • ‘Election’ by Adam Anderson, Durham School, The Durham Eye
  • ‘The weight of perfection’ by Ria Ghick, The Termlyn Crown, Seven Kings School, Ilford

 

Writer of the Year: Non-Fiction

Sponsored by The Stationers’ Foundation

Winner:

  • ‘Roofs are history’ by Ruby Wilmore, KTS News, The Knights Templar School, Baldock

Highly commended:

  • ‘On privilege’ by Izzy Moss, Ciara Herbert and Sophia Williamson, View from the Hill, Lancing College, West Sussex
  • ‘When culture becomes crime’ by Danai Mowoko, Yarm School, North Yorkshire

 

Editor of the Year

Sponsored by Denmaur Paper Media

Winners:

  • Lucy Green, The Durham Eye, Durham School
  • Rebecca Flinn, #Osborne, School Osborne, Winchester

Highly commended:

  • Martha Hutchins, Insight – Journeys, Blacken School for Girls, Bexley
  • Georgia Ifil, Park Life, Prior Park College, Bath

 

Best article on a designated topic: ‘Leaders of tomorrow’

Sponsored by Bobst UK & Ireland

Winner:

  • ‘How to start an authoritarian regime’, by Edi Lea, City of Norwich School, Norwich

Highly commended:

  • ‘A question of colour: Black boys in education’, by Jeffrery Odoom, Jibril Brimah, Kayden Makangu, Ridwan Mohamud, Sami Isuk, Wesley Kommogne, Zion Muinailv, Oasis Academy Hadley, Enfield
  • ‘Is the pen really mightier than the sword’, by Barnaby Fox, Wrapped magazine, Reed’s School, Cobham

 

Most Inspirational Teacher

Sponsored by Shepherds Bookbinders

Winner:

  • George Barrett, Ermysted’s Grammar School, Skipton

Highly commended:

  • Annabel Sims, Kings High School, Warwick
  • Kate Bartlett, Latymer Upper School, Hammersmith
  • Antonia Breslin, Yarm School, North Yorkshire

 

Scoop of the Year

Sponsored by The London Press Club

Winner:

  • ‘The Natalie Queioroz interview’ by Madeeha Daud, The Beacon, King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls, Birmingham

Highly commended:

  • ‘The Pontecorovos: Abingdon family who disappeared.’ By James Henderson, The Martlet, Abingdon School, Oxfordshire
  • ‘Walking through a landslide’ by Devanandha Rajesh, NEST: Non-European Stories Told, Attleborough Academy, Norfolk
  • ‘Why young votes matter: insight from Sir Lindsay Hoyle’, by Ewan Dragota Bourne Identity, Bourne Grammar School Lincolnshire

 

Best Overall Content: Print

Sponsored by Heidelberg Graphic Equipment

Winner:

  • The Beacon – King Edward V1 Handsworth School for Girls, Birmingham

Highly commended:

  • EXiA, City of Norwich School
  • The Scientific Latymerian, Latymer Upper School, Hammersmith
  • Term, Tarporley High School & Sixth Form College, Chester

 

Best Overall Content: Online/Digital

Sponsored by SDS Group

Winner:

  • MOSAIC – Whitworth Park Academy, Durham

Highly commended:

  • WHTV, Wycombe High School, Buckinghamshire, Durham
  • The Castle Spring Edition 2025, Reigate Grammar School, Surrey

 

Best Magazine: Single Topic

Sponsored by Hearst UK

Winner:

  • The Eagle, St John’s School, Leatherhead

Highly commended:

  • Café Scientifique, Kings High School, Warwick
  • The Scientific Latymerian, Latymer Upper School, Hammersmith

 

Best Magazine: General

Sponsored by Hello!

Winner:

  • Bourne Identity, Bourne Grammar School, Lincolnshire

Highly commended:

  • The Beacon – King Edward V1 Handsworth School for Girls, Birmingham

 

Best Newspaper

Sponsored by the Daily Mail General Trust

Winner:

  • The Martlet, Abingdon School, Oxfordshire

Highly commended:

  • The Reason, Ermysted’s Grammar School, Skipton
  • Hummersknott Academical, Hummersknott Academy, Darlington

 

The Terry Mansfield Award for Tomorrow’s Talent

Sponsored by Picon

Winner:

  • Maximillian Jen, Latymer Upper School, Hammersmith

Highly commended:

  • Tristan Clark-Lam, Abingdon School, Oxford
  • Bella Cooms, St John’s School, Leatherhead

 

The Harrison Cup

Sponsored by The Worshipful Company of Stationers & Newspaper Makers

Winner:

  • Yarm School, North Yorkshire

 

For the full story and background comments, our celebratory ‘winners book’ can now be downloaded in PDF form here