Shine news

Teachers tell their stories about running a school magazine

Hello everyone,

The Shine School Media Awards rewards students who excel at publishing, but the truth is, teachers are their fiercest champions.

Today, I’ve turned our blog over to the teachers of this year’s entrants, to tell you why they love the Shine Awards and the reasons you should get a school newspaper, magazine or podcast group involved in 2025.

“Creating a student publication is a wonderful way to involve pupils across a school and enable them to express themselves and be part of a community. It is then even more rewarding to be involved with the Shine Awards which celebrates their success and offers inspirational advice from industry professionals.”

Craig Cole
Head of Graphics, Photography & Printing
Reed’s School, Surrey

 

“The Shine School Media Awards afforded our young people an incredible opportunity to heighten their aspirations. Being nominated for the ‘Best Audio’ category was one of my highlights of last academic year. The young people had an amazing experience in London, and whist they were not successful, the time they spent at the Award Ceremony helped them understand the process and ways in which school media can be produced and reach new audiences.”

Iain Biddle
Youth Presence Project Worker, The Queen Katherine School

 

“#Osborne magazine continues to thrill our students and give them excellent experiences. It has enabled our editors to develop key leadership skills. It has enabled our students to upskill in the areas of design and ICT. It has enabled our students, through podcasting, the experience of editing audio and developing their communication skills.”

“The annual award ceremonies held in London are always a joy, and for some of our students, has been the only time they have visited London. It’s also great that our students get to mingle and talk to other schools, and for those schools to see that great impactful work can be produced by a team from a special needs school.”

Ben Dlugokecki
Assistant Headteacher at Osborne SEN School, Winchester

So don’t just take my word for it! School publications can be a transformative educational experience. There’s still plenty of time to start one now, even if it’s just a straightforward magazine, designed with free software like Canva and circulated as a PDF file on email.

We’re on your side to help your project from planning to completion, so if you have questions about your entry for the Shine School Media Awards 2025, just drop us a line at shine@stationers.org

Til next time,

Richard
Chair of Shine