St Mary’s Journalism Programme Named Top in the Country

The Masters in Sports Journalism at St Mary’s University, Twickenham has been named the best postgraduate journalism programme in the country.

The annual ranking, published by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ), found that the Sports Journalism programme at St Mary’s was the country’s best performing NCTJ accredited postgraduate journalism course in the UK.

The Sports Journalism programme at St Mary’s welcomes students from around the world to study on its Strawberry Hill campus. The programme trains students to become journalists for the digital age, learning from award winning journalists, broadcasters, and academics. Alumni from the programme have gone on to a number of high-profile positions, including Sky Sports News Presenter Emma Paton and TalkSport Presenter Hugh Woozencroft.

The NCTJ, which was founded in 1951, is one of the UK’s leading journalist training schemes, with over 73% of qualified journalists having trained on one of its accredited programmes. The annual ranking of NCTJ accredited courses is based on student achievements in their academic studies in the 2019-20 academic year.

Speaking of the rankings, St Mary’s Course Leader in Sports Journalism Daragh Minogue said, "My colleagues and I are very proud of this achievement, but we have to pay tribute to our students who displayed remarkable resilience during the first lockdown. It's no surprise that most of them have gone on to find work in the sports media as well.

"It also confirms that St Mary's is the place to be if you want to become a sports journalist"