Fronted by Nick Grimshaw, the competition is back to offer even more 16-25 year-olds the chance to be mentored by top journalists, have their opinions read by millions and for the first time attend a week’s intensive training course.
According to Media Trust, Column Idol 2014 promises to be bigger and better - offering more young people across England and Wales the chance to have their voices heard in Britain’s biggest-selling newspaper with ten semi-finalists having a side column published in The Sun. All ten will also receive an increased level of mentoring from top journalists at The Sun through Media Trust’s youth mentoring scheme.
Five finalists will then be selected to attend a week’s intensive training course delivered by top talent from across News UK through News Academy’s Summer School programme to help them gain greater industry insight and polish their final columns.
These five finalists will present their columns to a high-profile judging panel including Nick Grimshaw and The Sun’s Editor David Dinsmore. One winner will be selected and will see their full-page column printed in The Sun newspaper and will also receive a further two weeks’ mentoring and training at The Sun.
2014’s new and improved Column Idol will provide even more young people with invaluable mentoring support. The popular competition has seen previous finalists secure top jobs at national papers including 2010’s winner Lee Price, a feature writer for The Sun and last year’s finalist Alex Harris, an online journalist at The Daily Express.
David Dinsmore, editor of The Sun, said: “The Sun is committed to giving young people a voice so I am extremely proud that through our partnership with Media Trust we are able to give them a platform again this year. Journalists from our paper are acting as mentors to the finalists and we’re opening our doors to give further insight into the media industry, making Column Idol a fantastic opportunity for the young writers to receive advice from industry experts.”
Katie Lloyd, deputy chief executive at Media Trust, said: “We’re proud to partner with The Sun for the fifth consecutive year to give industry insight and expertise to young people who wouldn’t normally have access to it. It’s really exciting that this year Column Idol will help even more young people have a voice and nurture their talents with the help of top journalists and Media Trust’s youth mentoring scheme.”
The closing date for entries is Sunday 29th June 2014 at midnight.
