Shine news

Following our judging process, and ahead of the awards day on 30th June, here are the schools shortlisted for the Shine School Media Awards 2025.

I really hope that you’ve enjoyed the last couple of months of newsletters as we’ve showcased our YouTube series ‘Ask the Expert’, for secondary school students who are interested in publishing. It’s been a real privilege to talk to some remarkable people who work at the cutting edge of media in the UK.

Today our episode is a little different. We know many schools are at the tail end of the production process of their school magazine and we’re keen to offer advice on how to complete a project successfully. So I’ve enlisted my right hand lady, Katherine Whitbourn, who works as a sub-editor at The Observer.

Shine Award categories go way beyond writing and editing – which is why we’re always keen to talk about design and the arts. But what about the ubiquitous Instagram artform everyone loves: photography?

On today’s Ask the Expert we’re talking to someone who knows all about that. It’s the Visuals Editor of The Telegraph Ash Hussain. I think your students will love hearing Ash talk passionately about his work. He’s a self-described ‘red Mancunian’ and doesn’t just answer our ‘big five questions’, but also talks about his inspiring career journey.

In many of our Shine Award entries each year, we see reviews of recent music or films. Student opinions are the beating heart of every school magazine or newspaper, but structuring this sort of writing requires a different approach to news journalism.

To help, in this week’s episode of Ask the Expert we’ve sought outstanding advice from Vanessa Thorpe, the arts and media correspondent of The Observer.

Where should your students go for insight and advice when they’re writing a strong news story? The answer is: this week’s episode of Ask the Expert.

Our guest is Jamie Fahey, production editor of The Guardian, who puts together the front page, often writing the main headlines you see at the top of the paper at the newsagent.

This week’s episode of Ask the Expert is a real treat for anyone who wonders how a world-class magazine is put together – from a creative perspective. It’s the fantastic Caz Roberts, Creative Director of Grazia UK.

As Caz explains, her job involves directing fashion shoots, featured celebrity shoots, as well as creating visuals for news content and video. In our interview, Caz tells me about an incredible series of ideas and media that students are without question going to be fascinated by.