I ventured to London!

Hello everyone!

So Monday 24th of June I went to London!

I can imagine some of you are thinking, 'Why is that such a big deal?' but it is for two reasons!

No. 1- I'm from the north east of England, so far up north its almost Scotland, and because I have little money, it is a big deal for me going to the other end of the country!

No.2- I was there for a very special reason; The Shine School Media Awards, which I will leave a link to here.

*Back story.*

Back in October of last year I was appointed editor of my schools newspaper The Alnwickist, a very daunting role at first. I later got into the swing of it and come the beginning of December it was ready to be all edited and put together at The Northumberland Gazette, who very thoughtfully let us use their computer software (our school is what I could say in the nicest terms possible, a little lacking...) and with the help of my computer whizz deputy editor Matthew it was up and running.

Come middle of December it was published and an insert in every copy of The Northumberland Gazette, which would be in shops all over north Northumberland!

My media teacher then entered the school newspaper into the Shine School Media Awards.

*End of back story.*

Anyway, if I'm being honest I didn't think anything of it, the majority of the schools who were finalists last year were posh, nice and smart private schools, not shabby state schools like ours. (side note- this is in no way a dig at the teachers, they're brilliant, just a dig at the building/s.)

I shouldn't have been so pessimistic because we ended up being shortlisted in 7 categories- YAY! That was when I started to believe we may have a chance at getting into the finals.

It was when I was on my study leave during the AS exam period when I received an email from my media teacher saying we had reached the final- we were going to London! Not only that, but we had reached the final in three categories: best features article; best editorial content and best overall newspaper. What an achievement!

After an awfully early start on Monday, the Alnwickist team headed off down to London on the train. Probably the longest 3-and-a-bit hours of my life as we had to share a carriage with dozens of school children all around the age of 11 on a trip to France!

At quarter to twelve we arrived in London and took the tube to the Stationer's Hall- my first ever experience on the London Underground and it was no where near as scary as I thought it would be!

At Stationer's Hall there were little 'stops' where we could pick up free leaflets and pens, and chat to people about journalism and university applications (the cosmo girls were especially lovely). After a light lunch was the awards ceremony- woooo!

We were sat down in long tables with benches whilst presenters Simon Heffer, Daily Mail senior journalist, and Louise Court, editor of Cosmopolitan magazine gave speeches and presented the awards.

Unfortunately we didn't win any awards, but we were recognized as nominees for 7 categories and highly commended in 3, so overall very happy- especially since it is the first year we entered the competition.

A rather sun-burnt me with two of our certificates!

After the ceremony and congratulating the winners, we headed back to the underground and took a much more unpleasant ride on the tube to convent garden. We had a look around and a bit of a wander and ended up in Trafalgar Square!

Excited London Tourist Selfie!

 After admiring the water feature and the buildings we made our way to a lovely Italian restaurant for a post slap-up meal because why the hell not we were in London!

We had another look around London before getting the tube back to Kings Cross Station where we tried to get into Hogwarts but it didn't quite work...

All in all, although we didn't come away with any major prizes, we came home with certificates and smiles. I am very proud of myself and The Alnwickist team for getting this far.. we are already planning next winters addition and how we can make ourselves even better so we can hopefully in some awards next year!

Cheerio x