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Young Reporters

Young Reporters has now been running for ten years as of 2022. It is an opportunity for young people aged between 12 and 19, to write a weekly column which is published in the Grimsby Telegraph covering a huge range of topics. It has also been a finalist and sometimes winner for many local and national awards.

Groups run throughout the year with each group lasting for 3 months, giving each member the chance to write 3 columns. Young Reporters was originally managed by NELC for many years but for the past five years it has been managed through the VANEL youth team (contact details below).

The Young Reporters group will meet on Wednesday afternoons twice a month at 82 Grimsby Road, the Big Local offices opposite the small Tesco, for two hours at a time.  Commitment then will be to write 3 pieces of 600 to 700 words over the three month period with each person having agreed set deadlines for their pieces with support from the other members.

Articles appear in the Grimsby Telegraph Viewpoint section every Tuesday and are then available on the VANEL blog so that all articles remain available online.

Increasingly our young writers are also getting opportunities to prepare written pieces for other publications on specific subjects too.

This is a great experience for young people interested in writing.

“My daughter took part In Young Reporters a few years ago and received the Diana Award for this work. Her columns went into her portfolio, and proved a great topic to talk about at interviews. I would highly recommend students apply to this programme, particularly students who want to go into vocations related to English: writing, publishing, marketing and media. These industries require a portfolio of work as standard.” – parent of a young reporter

If you are interested in being part of this fantastic opportunity, or know someone that is, please contact John at VANEL (john@vanel.org.uk) or use this online form (http://vanel.org.uk/va/young-reporters-application-form/)

This opportunity has proved to be a positive addition to the development of CV’s as well as developing key transferrable skills most employers look for, including team work, meeting deadline, effective written and verbal communication, positive challenge and developing understanding of diverse issues young people face.

You can read all the articles by our young reporters on our blog here www.vanel.org.uk/va/tag/young-reporters/

Online application form is currently here. http://vanel.org.uk/va/young-reporters/

Contact

John Mooney at VANEL is the person to contact.
Drop him a line via john@vanel.org.uk

Learn more about Young Reporters idea  on this Youtube video = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHRy0R8I7n4

Celebrating 10 Years

In 2022, Young Reporters celebrated 10 years. That’s dozens of young people who’ve written hundreds of published articles between them.  And plenty of life changing experiences for them all.

Thoughts from prolific Young Reporter Grace:

There are genuinely no words, which is ironic considering I have written a total of nearly 25, 700  word articles for the paper, so having no words is unusual for a budding writer like me. But, over the past 2 years now I have been lucky enough to be apart of the young reporters programme. I began during the first lockdown, when I can admit, I was in a very difficult time in my life personally. I have always had a love for all things English and book related, but had never really considered the thought of writing as a career choice. Throughout 3 or more lockdowns I wrote about topics which were never talked about, topics which needed more awareness and topics which were close to my heart. I got the opportunity to use my brain for something which soon became the biggest passion in my life, and my biggest therapy. I have had so much feedback on my articles from teachers, friends, family, strangers, friends of family and even the radio! I have been able to use this programme for my own therapy but also for helping others so that they are able to feel a sense of relief that somebody their age, or just somebody in the area relates to what they are going through. Jenny allowed me into this programme without realising how much it helped me during lockdown, and allowed me to write freely, let me spread my creativity, edited my very long articles which were well over the word limit, and consistently emailed me with praise, check in’s and kind words. I am beyond proud to be apart of this programme with some amazing people, and I am insanely grateful that I now am looking to pursue writing as a career.

I cant wait to write more and to keep inspiring others I hope. Thank you for this opportunity always.

Also, read this recent article by Young Reporter Tomos with thoughts on 10 years of Young Reporters.

Award Winning

YR promo poster

Links to Young Reporter articles in the IGNITE blog

The Young Reporters publish a booklet to raise awareness during Mental Health Week

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Last week (13th-19th May 2019) was National Mental Health Awareness Week and the theme this year was Body Image. A very powerful week of national support and campaigns, and locally our Young Reporters team worked hard to put together an exciting booklet of their thoughts and feelings on the issues involved. Read on to find out more and to access the booklet they produced.

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