Congratulations to the following journalists and their investigations:

Sarah Collins: How the crisis in CAMHS is stealing children’s futures
Katie Dancey-Downs: Silence in the library – censorship in UK schools and public libraries
Katherine Denkinson: How unmonitored conspiracy groups laid the groundwork for a far right resurgence
Jasmine Owens: A public healthcare investigation linked to avoidable deaths within a marginalised community.

Share

The winning Fellow will be announced in the autumn on our Substack. Please subscribe for free to be the first to hear the news.

Subscribe now

Applications are now being accepted for the 2027/8 Fellowship. Visit our website to apply.

Congratulations to the following journalists and their investigations…

Sarah Collins: How the crisis in CAMHS is stealing children’s futures
Rosie Taylor: Is the gender health gap real – and who is harmed by it?
Alistair Charles Wilkinson: Football's Invisible Workforce: who really builds the game's good work?
Zach Boren: Chickenization comes to Britain – the proliferation of factory farms in the UK
Katie Dancey-Downs: Silence in the library – censorship in UK schools and public libraries
Matei Rosca: The high street crime wave blighting Britain runs through crypto cyberspace
Katherine Denkinson: How unmonitored conspiracy groups laid the groundwork for a far right resurgence
Jasmine Owens: A public healthcare investigation linked to avoidable deaths within a marginalised community

The shortlist will be announced on Friday 10 July on our Substack. Please subscribe for free to be the first to hear the news.

Subscribe now

Share

In the article, Dr Johnson explores how we might best teach the future workforce of the publishing industry when it’s already being reshaped by generative artificial intelligence right now.

Read the full piece here

A three-day annual programme of experiential learning, students from both universities engaged in talks, tours, and hands-on workshops with OICPJ Industry Advisory Board member, and former magazine editor Mandie Gower, now at global fashion brand group PVH.

Mandie was joined by freelance stylist and Fashion Coordinator for Vogue Netherlands Nancy Steenman, and senior copywriter and editor Lydia van de Kreeke, who shapes brand storytelling for designers including Karl Lagerfeld, Calvin Klein, and Tommy Hilfiger.

As well as helping the students grow their international industry network, these sessions also provided opportunities for professional skills development, with activities such as practising copywriting for fashion brands and creating moodboards as concept planning for a fashion shoot, all guided by the industry experts.

The visit also offered a chance to network and collaborate with students studying BA Creative Business at AUAS, and provides invaluable exposure in cross-cultural exchange, including a student-led session on intercultural communication with AUAS International Relations Manager Kim Voogdt. The visit is designed to generate a series of articles for the Brookes students’ module assignment, which AUAS students contribute to via ideas generation.

The programme is a two-way collaboration, and the AUAS will join us on the Brookes campus this week for three days. The international students from the Netherlands will join MJP talks covering social media marketing, a visual culture guest workshop with a fashion photographer, and a trip to the Brookes special collection to examine its zine archive.

The week will culminate in a workshop by the AUAS students pitching their content ideas for an Oxford supplement as part of a magazine start up project, which MJP students will critique.

OICPJ has a longstanding partnership with Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Our students have visited each others’ campuses for the past 15 years.

The exchange has featured lecture swaps in our respective industry specialisms, as well as a number of collaborative hybrid teaching projects. Iterations have included a simulated book fair game to develop vital international rights trading skills, as well as a chance to experience the Dutch publishing market via visits to Central Boekhuis, the American Book Center, and a workshop with International Booker Prize winner Michele Hutchison.

AUAS is also a partner university to Oxford Brookes and students can participate in a semester-long exchange programme at both universities.

It shines a light on the state of UK rivers, told through the eyes of a group of teenage swimmers who find themselves in the sh*t.

Author Craig Taylor has teamed up with Surfer’s Against Sewage donating 50% of all sales to the charity.

There are only 215 copies of this edition being printed, which Craig works out as, ‘one copy for each mile of the Thames’.

Floaters goes on sale on 1 March 2026 here.

Read more about it in this article by Emma John in The Guardian.

Sign up to Craig’s Substack As Best I can for more of his musings.

Buy Floaters here

A frisson of enthusiasm, apprehension and anticipation came over the group as we arrived at Fusion 2, ITV Meridian’s offices in Whiteley, Hampshire. Rightly so, we were about to have an exciting and immersive experience.

As future journalists on the MA Journalism and MA Digital Media Production courses this visit gave huge insight into the live broadcast of local news. ITV Meridian covers the South Coast, the South East and the Thames Valley which includes Oxfordshire.

Kim Hewitt, Programme and Digital Editor, met us and explained the schedule for the day and how an average ITV day worked. Although, due to the ever-changing news, ‘average’ does not occur very often! We were split into two groups; one group started in news broadcast and the other in the weather studio. Alison Nice, Head of News, oversaw this part of the visit.

In the news gallery there were at least 30 screens giving constantly changing information. Some focusing on what is going out live on ITV, some showing auto cue screens, some the news room studio, some the live U screens and some the weather bulletin. Red and green lights show the time and countdown clocks.

The desk in front of those screens is monitored by up to 6 people.

At the back of this small area is the sound engineer who works between the studio, miking up the presenter, and his ‘desk’ of sliding buttons, controlling the sound.

Through darkened glass you can see the news room presenters, editors and journalists fact finding, editing and compiling the day’s news and weather. We were given an analogy to a restaurant where the meal has to be on the table at a certain time but can only be as good as the quality of the ingredients.

Timing is everything, down to the last second. One person controlling the schedule, both eyes on the clock and a mike for countdown. Facts can change at any moment and scripts can change during transmission. Another person is switching the screens and talking through the mike to the presenter and to auto cue.

We were all able to ‘have a go’ at presenting the news and weather. We felt first-hand what it is like to be ‘on air’, either following an auto cue for the news or operating a remote control to change screen for the weather. You need to remain calm, be adaptable, listen to all instructions relayed through your earpiece and work as part of a team.

We were lucky to meet Matt Teale, one of the news readers, and witness the live news broadcast and to have Holly Green, a weather presenter, helping us with our weather presentations.

A last few questions before it was time to depart. When asked about the effect of digital on the news Kim explained “Digital is a big thing going forward, it keeps us on air 24/7. Get to the location of the story and get the news out on digital first.”

And when confronted with potential AI stories “always trust your sources, use your journalistic instinct”. She added “ITV is a trusted institution, we are local people with local stories”.

The ITV Meridian team were so generous with their time and imparting of knowledge. We had experienced the excitement of live television, the professionalism of the ITV team, the need for quality journalism as against AI generated and the range of job types from production to presenting – or as Kim stated ‘the power or the glory’!

Share

Oxford International Centre for Publishing and Journalism Senior Lecturer Craig Taylor has won Best Experimental Film at the Bangkok Film Awards, December 2025, for the short film Analogue Digital Dead Alive, which he directed, wrote, and shot at an abandoned 17th century water mill in Suffolk.

The film, which has also won, been honourably mentioned in, or selected for, eight other international film festivals throughout 2025 is part of Taylor’s practice in what he calls ‘slow and spurious’ filmmaking, evolved as antidote to our ‘hyperactive visual culture’ and involving long, static shots and zero budgets.

Another of Taylor’s short films, The Library of Unwritten Books, was shortlisted for best experimental film at the Big Syn International Film Festival gala, hosted at the Curzon cinema in London, November 2025.

Lacking any directorial or cinematographic experience before embarking on making these films, Taylor’s interest in learning through practice, saw him jump feet first into the world of experimental film.

A third ‘slow and spurious’ film consisting of a single, 13-minute-long moving shot, and titled The Other Side of Boredom, has also been completed and will soon be released, while work will start on a fourth short film sometime in 2026.

In other film news, a Bafta and Olivier-winning actor has been attached to Taylor’s co-written feature film script, Dead Man’s Wood, slated to be shot in summer 2026 in Oxfordshire. While Taylor also runs the Substack As Best I Can which features writing on the nature of creativity across all narrative arts.

Share

This year, as part of our final year undergraduate module Creative Entrepreneurship, we welcomed eight BA Media, Journalism and Publishing (MJP) alumni to take part in two Q&A panels on the theme of ‘shaping the media with your storytelling skills’.

On the media panel (standing row, from left to right)
Myra May, Digital Marketing Executive, St Michael’s Hospice – Class of 2024
Fleur Bailey, Senior Community Manager, Secret London – Class of 2020
Laura Cutting, Digital Producer, ITV – Class of 2022
Diana Miu, Digital Content Creator, TAKEX Tech – Class of 2023

On the journalism & publishing panel (seated row, from left to right)
Ugne Matuliauskaite, International Sales, Hachette UK – Class of 2022
Harry McNeil, Senior Reporter, Insurance Times – Class of 2022
Joshua Nair, Journalist, Ladbible – Class of 2022
Laura Evans, Contracts Assistant, Hachette UK – Class of 2022

---

The panels were expertly chaired by current MJP students, Miah, Lola, Skye, Ella and Giorgia, who were also recording the event for a Brookes Podcast Society special edition, coming out in the new year. We sure know how to multi-platform!

In the audience were second and third year MJP students, alongside students from our MA Journalism, and MA Publishing Media programmes.

At the top of the event, everyone enjoyed an opening keynote speech from business storytelling consultant Abbianca Nassar, who is also a former award-winning reporter and member of OICPJ’s Journalism Advisory Board.

Setting the tone for the alumni panels to follow, Abbianca reiterated the importance of storytelling skills, which are in demand in all industries, and how best to market yourself to future employers through social media and at industry events.

‘The good thing about working in media – whether it’s in book publishing, journalism, or broadcasting – we have so many transferable skills’, says Abbianca. ‘Building your brand or at least marketing yourself as much as possible is definitely worth doing – you are your biggest asset’.

Abbianca’s insights chimed with the core message of the module, and certainly rang true with our alumni’s experiences too, which you can read about here in Nine alumni tips to help get students career-ready by MJP student Gioriga Tambascia.

Subscribe now

Anna’s top five career highlights:

1. Citizen journalists living in township in South Africa for 6 weeks

2. Helicopter in the Arctic with NATO forces

3. On Norwegian Naval vessel to collect Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile - live reporting and video diary

4. Reporting on pioneering Dutch maternity system, a few days after giving birth, surreal, really living the story

5. Bike Bureau winning innovation award

6. Presenting on the World Service and Radio 4.

Anna’s five F.A.V.E.S for student journalists

Focus
Be clear about what you want and be proactive in chasing it – pitch, work out who’ll want they types of stories you’re interested in, find a mentor or speak to people doing the job you want.

Authenticity (and integrity)
Lean into what makes you you: your voice, background, obsessions and attitude.

Versatility
Be prepared to file from anywhere, on any platform – lightweight kit that fits in a grab bag… And get comfortable producing under pressure without losing accuracy or storytelling.

Empathy
Always step into the other person’s shoes; it’s your most powerful reporting tool. It helps you win trust and draw out depth. Remember: it’s not about you, also helps with nerves.

Switch off
Resist the urge to refresh live pages after bedtime. You need a life outside journalism – staying grounded will both safeguard you from burnout or drowning in bad news, and make you a sharper, more human reporter.

Subscribe now

Nuala Murray was one of 13 of our MA student helpers: ‘Volunteering with the Oxford Indie Book Fair during its busiest year to date was an incredibly rewarding experience,’ she says.

‘Selling the works of renowned authors Paterson Joseph and Andrey Kurkov, and making the occasional event announcement, all gave me invaluable insight into where I see myself thriving within the publishing industry.’

The Fair brings together independent authors, publishers, and bookstores, while providing a platform for literary enthusiasts of all ages and backgrounds. It actively reaches out to under-represented communities across Oxfordshire, encouraging reading and writing in children and young people.

MA student volunteer Kyle Parker says, ‘I had a cracking time volunteering. It was wonderful to speak to so many different people – both exhibitors and guests – and a privilege to explore the University of Oxford’s spectacular Examination Schools.’

This year’s Fair was opened by Professor Richard Ovenden OBE, Head of Gardens, Libraries, & Museums (GLAM), a post he holds together with being Bodley’s Librarian and the Helen Hamlyn Director of the University Libraries (the senior executive officer of the Bodleian Libraries).

He follows in the distinguished footsteps of Oxford Brookes Chancellor Paterson Joseph who opened the event in 2023, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford Professor Irene Tracey in 2022.

The Fair included many author talks, including an interview with Paterson Joseph by Richard Ovenden, which centred on his latest book 10 Children Who Changed the World.

According to Fair Committee Member & Event Manager Shona Nicholson, ‘The Fair couldn’t run without the wonderful student and staff volunteers from Oxford Brookes, Oxford University and Abingdon and Witney College. We are so grateful for their time and energy.’

With almost 1,800 people in attendance on the day – a huge increase over 2024 – it’s a testament to this vibrant literary community.

‘I’m so glad I had the chance to volunteer’, says MA sutdent, Marino Fukusato. ‘With over 150 exhibitors — including writers, illustrators, and small publishers — the event was full of unique and creative voices.’

Interested in attending? Mark this date in your diary now – Sunday 22 November 2026! Admission is free. More information is available on the Oxford Indie Book Fair website.

Subscribe now

From September 2025 onwards, the Journalists’ Charity and OICPJ will work together to support students at Oxford Brookes University from financially challenged backgrounds to attend job interviews.

The overall aim of the initiative is to help more future journalists from a range of backgrounds to establish a career in the industry rather than potentially being deterred by financial barriers to entry.

The Journalists’ Charity, set up by Charles Dickens 160 years ago, offers financial support to current journalists, recent journalism graduates, and current undergraduate and postgraduate students to attend job interviews in circumstances where financial challenges might otherwise prevent them from doing so.

Support will include reimbursement towards the fair, appropriate and justifiable expenses of attending job interviews including travel, and accommodation where needed.

Oxford Brookes is the first university to partner with the Journalists’ Charity on the the initiative, which if successful will be offered to other instituations in 2026.

For more information and how to apply, visit this page

In this episode, entitled ‘The World of International Rights’, Polly and Molly discuss why and how publishers sell rights, what a career in rights looks like, and the perks and challenges of this exciting (and often misunderstood) role in the publishing industry. You can listen to the Podcast now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcast platforms.

Polly runs the MA in Publishing Media and is a Senior Lecturer at OICP. Her teaching focuses on international publishing, rights and licensing, and children’s media. She previously worked in the Rights department of Oxford University Press’s Children’s and Educational division.

Subscribe now