STOP PRESS! Successful applications for Media Connections - your chance to work in a newsroom - are as below. Some are still being arranged so.... watch this space.
Charity press officers are being given the chance to have a placement at a top media organisation.
They will have the opportunity to spend some time alongside the media’s best and gain an insider's view of how things work. Successful applicants will shadow experienced journalists and producers and discover why some stories are considered newsworthy and how editorial ideas are developed. They will also learn how to improve their charity's relationship with the media and gain more publicity for its activities.
They will be sharing what they learnt with all of you so keep an eye out for some great tips from the newsrooms!
This year the placements will take place in November and December (some in January and February) at the following...
BBC World News - Leanne O’Boyle from Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART)
HART is a small organisation that works to provide aid and advocacy for those who are, or who have been, suffering oppression and persecution, and who are largely neglected by the international media. Empowering the local people with whom they work to projects in 8 different countries across Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.
Sky News - Tim Nicholls from Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG)
CPAG is the leading charity campaigning for the abolition of child poverty in the UK and for a better deal for low-income families and children.
BBC London - Catherine Steele from Love London festival, London 21
London 21 Sustainability Network, help Londoners build a sustainable future for themselves and the Capital. Working from the grass roots up, Love London events give people easy steps to green their lifestyle, bringing them together to share ideas and building communities on the way.
Channel 4 News - Fiona McKinstrie from UK Youth Parliament
The UK Youth Parliament gives young people a voice on anything that matters to them. The Members of Youth Parliament are elected by over half a million young people, and campaign on issue based politics.
BBC Yorkshire - Heloise Wood from Clinks
Clinks is a membership organisation which supports charities working with offenders and their families. We are currently working on a campaign, Race for Justice, looking at how to end racism and racial inequality in the Criminal Justice System through empowering the Voluntary and Community Sector.
Financial Times (foreign desk) - Martine Julseth from Fairtrade Foundation
The Fairtrade Foundation is the independent non-profit organisation whose vision is of a world in which justice and sustainable development are at the heart of trade structures and practices so that everyone, through their work, can maintain a decent and dignified livelihood and develop their full potential.
BBC Radio 4, You and Yours - Anna Caig from Anxiety UK
Anxiety UK is a national registered charity formed in 1970 by a sufferer of agoraphobia for those affected by anxiety disorders. Today we are still a user-led organisation, run by sufferers and ex-sufferers of anxiety disorders supported by a medical advisory panel.
BBC World Service, Africa Desk - Matt Hann from Riders for Health
Riders for Health (Riders) is an award winning social enterprise who are working to overcome one of the biggest barriers to development in Africa: the simple, tragic inability to reach people with the basic health care services that could save their lives.
The Metro - Amanda Corcoran from The Ahoy Centre
The centre is for the entire community and its primary objective is disadvantaged youth and people with disabilities from Deptford, Greenwich, Lewisham and the surrounding boroughs, and in certain cases London wide. It offers participants the experience, opportunities and new horizons gained through water-based activities.
Who was eligible
- Placements are open to anyone based in the UK with at least one years experience in media relations and who is currently working in the voluntary sector as a PR officer, or within a press team.
- Applicants are welcome from any sized charity, but particular consideration will be given to smaller ones.
- Please note that applicants must not have previously worked in a media organisation as a researcher, journalist, feature writer or producer for more than two months.
- Travel and expenses are not covered. Most successful applicants will be awarded a local placement but you will need to consider expenses if traveling further a field.
Applicants emailed their CVs to mediaconnections@mediatrust.org along with a covering letter that stated why they would have liked a placement and how this would have benefited their organisation. The closing date for applications was October 3rd 2008. We had a huge response!
We are hoping to run the scheme again soon so watch this space.
By sending in an applications, applicants will be seen to have agreed with our terms and conditions which are here for reference.