Shine news

It’s almost the end of term and we know it’s been a really busy one, so we’d like to wish everyone a great break and a special and happy time for those celebrating the season.

As the year draws to a close, I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who’s got involved in the Shine School Media Awards in 2025. Chairing the awards is an incredible experience and means I meet some amazing students and teachers in the course of the year. The ingenuity, creativity, thoughtfulness and sense of humour and fun I find again and again in the students that enter the competition is inspiring and genuinely uplifting.

Chances are your students are already creating great media.

Is it the genesis of a school magazine built from writing they’re doing as part of the curriculum? Are they making docu-video at home which they’re talking about putting on TikTok? Is someone recording a podcast episode the class reckons is worthy of Spotify? Inevitably it’s work that’s exciting, evolving or experimental. Something that I hear about happening at secondary schools across the UK every term.

This week, I’ve got an incredible story of the way in which a Shine Award provided an outstanding professional experience for two winning students and how they think about print and design.

When Charlton Cooper and Alfie walked into Heidelberg UK headquarters, they were expecting a brief introduction and perhaps a quick tour. What they got was something far more valuable: an entire day immersed in professional print production, guided by industry leaders who were genuinely invested in their learning.

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 two winners who achieved just that, with Senior Associate Editor Liz Hunt.

One of the most rewarding aspects of the Shine School Media Awards is seeing students discover their voice as writers. But how do you help them move beyond the school essay format and create journalism that truly engages?

We’re delighted that Dr Glenda Cooper, a member of the Shine committee and Associate Professor in Journalism at City St George’s, University of London, has written a comprehensive guide specifically for students entering our Writer of the Year category.

In a busy academic year, which extracurricular activities truly make a difference: not just now, but when students apply to FE?

School newspapers, magazines and podcasts foster innovation, teamwork and ambition. They give students a platform, a voice and skills that stand out.

Here are the opinions that count: what three teachers said about the Shine Awards…