![\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforjournalism\/files\/2022\/12\/laoise-nctj-awards-2022.jpg\")
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The National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) holds the awards each year to highlight the achievements of individuals with promising journalism careers ahead of them. The NCTJ’s 2021 Awards<\/a> ceremony was held in the spring of 2022, after a record-breaking 481 entries<\/a>.<\/p>\n Also collecting a prize this year was CfJ alumna\u00a0Jem Collins, who took the \u2018Equality, Diversity and Inclusion\u2019 award, which was sponsored by the\u00a0Financial Times<\/em>.\u00a0 Jem is a digital journalist and is the founding Director and Editor-in-Chief of\u00a0Journo Resources<\/a>. She graduated from the CfJ in 2014. The award she was given recognises \u2018the outstanding work of individuals, educators and trainers, and employers who promote equality, diversity and inclusion in the media and training sector\u2019.<\/p>\n Laoise Gallagher was also shortlisted for the prize for \u2018Community News Project\u2019, a category in which her work was commended. Fellow CfJ alumna\u00a0Lily Morl\u00a0was short-listed for \u2018Best student project\u2019 for her moving documentary on people who had to wait for transplants during the Covid pandemic.\u00a0 The documentary was \u2018highly commended\u2019 by the NCTJ\u2019s judges and was made for a final year project, where students choose what they want to focus on. Lily graduated with a 1st<\/sup> class BA in Journalism and is now a reporter at Buckinghamshire Live News.<\/p>\n The CfJ itself was in the running for an award for Innovation, for its popular and ground-breaking \u2018Year in Journalism\u2019 course, which is open to undergraduates at the University of Kent.\u00a0 The course is accredited by the NCTJ and allows students from different subject areas to spend a year training as a journalist at the CfJ on the Medway campus.\u00a0 In this time, while taking university modules, students also get the opportunity to take NCTJ qualifications leading to the organisation\u2019s Diploma, which is much-respected in the journalism industry.<\/p>\n CfJ lecturer Angela Harrison said: \u201cWe are very proud to see our graduates nominated, commended and winning these prestigious awards.\u00a0 Laoise Gallagher\u2019s and Lily Morl\u2019s documentaries are very strong pieces of journalism, packed with people\u2019s voices, experiences and stories, as well as the crucial facts on these important topics.\u00a0 Both students showed great motivation, skill, creativity and ingenuity in creating these engaging and thought-provoking documentaries during a pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cJem Collins richly deserves her award for the work she does to open the doors of journalism to people from all backgrounds and we are delighted she has also come back at times as a visiting lecturer, to teach the present-day students.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Students](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforjournalism\/files\/2022\/12\/nctj-awards-2022.jpg\")