Eighteen journalism alumni of City University have been nominated for the XCity Award with its £500 prize.
The XCity Award, set up in 2011 to mark the 25th anniversary of XCity magazine, recognises outstanding contributions to journalism made in the past year by alumni. Simon Rogers, data journalist for The Guardian won the inaugural prize last year.
The six shortlisted candidates will be profiled on the website from tomorrow and the winner announced online on Thursday 22 March. There will be a full interview with the winner in XCity magazine, published from 2 April.
The 12 journalists nominated for excellence, but who did not make the final shortlist are:
- Richard Martin (broadcast, 2008) for his reporting on Dale Farm for BBC Radio Essex.
- Deborah Miranda (science, 2011) for her articles and online interaction on cervical cancer prevention for The Guardian
- James Brooks (science, 2011) for his role as science editor of BioNews.
- Tony Gallagher (newspaper, 1985) for his role as editor of The Telegraph.
- James Cusick (diploma, 1982) for his investigative work on phone hacking with colleague Cahal Milmo at The Independent.
- Tiffany Stecker (science, 2010) for her work reporting on environmental journalism for Climate Wire and elsewhere.
- Iona Craig (undergraduate journalism, 2010) for her freelance reporting in Yemen.
- Franziska Wetzel (undergraduate journalism, 2007) for her work as sub editor on The Sun news desk as a German national.
- Helena Williams (newspaper, 2011) for helping to compile the first book dedicated to the safety of women journalists at the International News Safety Institute.
- Conrad Quilty-Harper (investigative journalism, 2010) for his role as newly appointed interactive news editor of The Telegraph.
- James Ball (investigative, 2008) for his investigative work at The Guardian.
- Odette Berg (financial, 2011) for helping to launch Bloomberg Television‘s news reports from the Israeli stock markets.
The award could be for innovations in the way news is delivered, such as through hyperlocal sites or apps, a new take on multimedia, the introduction of a groundbreaking broadcast or publication or more traditional articles or programmes that bring about change.
The judging panel is Professor George Brock; Jason Bennetto, publisher of XCity; Helen Lawson, editor of XCity; Spencer Ball, head of marketing and Laura Palmer, head of campaigns at the alumni office.
Professor George Brock, head of journalism at City University London said: “The Department of Journalism at City University London is proud to send many of our graduates into top media jobs. We want to underline this with this award and to shine a light on special contributions which our alumni make to the newsrooms they work in or to innovation in journalism.”
