GCU Journalism student celebrating A-list status

A GCU Multimedia Journalism student has been featured in the Public Interest News List – a list which recognises journalists around the UK for their outstanding work in local news.

4th year Multimedia Journalism student Elle Duffy has been featured on the list after being nominated for her work as a Digital Journalist with The Herald. Working during the pandemic, Elle was responsible for keeping readers informed about the latest COVID-19 figures by translating it into digestible content.

Elle was delighted to have been featured on the Public Interest News List. She said: “It’s an absolute honour to be featured on this list.
I actually found out while doing a jigsaw - safe to say I couldn’t concentrate much after that!
It’s been an incredibly trying year for everyone, and so to know that something I’ve done has made a wee bit of a difference in someone’s life just means the world to me.”

She added: “I very much took on a data-driven role during the summer, in that I’d try to take all of the official numbers and break them down into easy to read and digest content that could relieve some of the stress about the pandemic.

While it is of course not as important as some of the ground-breaking exclusives that many of my colleagues brought to the table, it is great to know that so many people found my content useful.”

Whilst working during the pandemic, Elle covered content which focused on informing readers about school closures. She said: “At the beginning of the pandemic, while we were still getting to grips with the word ‘coronavirus’, we started getting word that schools were closing for ‘deep cleans’ across the country.

There were only a few, but it was enough for my inbox to be inundated with worried parents asking if their child’s school would be next. I decided to create a searchable database which parents could check every morning which would tell them which schools were closed and why.

It was a tricky concept, and I had to contact councils and search through websites every morning to get the latest closures and update my spreadsheet, but it was most definitely worth it.”

In relation to work experience whilst studying at university, Elle believes that it’s a crucial part of learning. She said: “Work experience during university can be daunting, and you may worry about not having the time to fit everything in.

You’re at university to study the subject you love the most, and you want to learn as much as you can about it. Because of this, doing work experience doesn’t feel like work - it’s all your learning and training coming together, and it is wonderful. It makes you feel better prepared for eventually graduating, and gives you a clearer idea of the section of the industry you want to go in to.

University is the perfect time to try different things, but most of all, get to know yourself and what you want, and work experience definitely helps with that.”

You can view the Public Interest News List here

By Rachael McAlonan

Got a SCEBE or GSBS story? Email me at Rachael.McAlonan@gcu.ac.uk or connect with me on social media