Newspaper offers £10,000 in student fees

The Guardian's Joseph Harker writes to invite applications for £10,000 bursaries his paper is offiering to budding journalists.

How diverse is our national media? It’s a question I’m often asked, and something I’ve been aware of since I first stepped into a national newspaper newsroom 20 years ago.

The answer, of course, is not nearly enough. But it’s also true to say that it’s a lot more diverse than it was.

At the Guardian, where I work, many efforts have been made to include women and minorities, and our office has staff and freelancers from a far wider range of backgrounds than when I arrived – in fact, as far as I’m aware, it has a wider range than any other national newspaper.

And applications have just opened for another of our initiatives aimed at bringing in new voices and life experiences.

The Scott Trust bursaryfunds the fees and living expenses of a one-year postgraduate journalism course. It’s worth around £10,000 and is open to anyone who’s looking to start a journalism career, in both print and film. Previous winners include Guardian correspondents Gary Younge,  Randeep Ramesh, Tania Branigan, and G2 commissioning editor Homa Khaleeli.

Much has been made in recent TV and radio programmes – by Andrew Neil and Richard Bilton,  for example – about the lack of social mobility in Britain. Indeed, one such broadcast was made by another Scott Trust recipient, the Guardian’s Riazat Butt .

We strongly agree with the sentiment they expressed. It’s essential for us that the Scott Trust awards go to those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford a postgraduate course.

I sit on the selection panel. We want the bursaries to make a real difference, and every year it’s hugely rewarding for us to be able to boost the nascent careers of so many intelligent and motivated young people, who’ve often overcome real challenges to get where they are.

Of course, we can’t guarantee a job at the end of the course. But having a bursary, which is highly respected throughout the industry, is a huge boost to any career.

Over the years, OBV has done brilliant work in encouraging minorities into politics. Getting people from similar backgrounds into our national media is, in my view, equally important.

If we want to change inequality and injustice in society, we need representation in Westminster, but also in the institutions which influence our politicians. So if you have a strong desire to make your own individual voice count – and you can show that you’ve got a strong desire and aptitude for journalism – then please apply for this potentially life-changing opportunity.

Joseph Harker is assistant editor, Comment, at the Guardian
and former editor, Black Briton (main picture).