There has never been a time in human history when we have had access to so much information. But rather than it bringing light to the world's problems, all too often the digital age has been swept by waves of misinformation, spawning division and confusion.
Pick a big issue and it will have fallen victim to the curse of the culture warriors. Politics, the environment, the constitution. Even Disney's Little Mermaid – apparently now 'woke' – has been dragged into bizarre online conspiracy theories.
Does this matter? It does when this toxicity bleeds into politics and infects public discourse, as politicians seek to stoke division rather than bring folk together.
It would be easy to throw your hands in the air and damn them all but this is where the often derided trade of journalism comes in. Would Boris Johnson still be our shambolic Prime Minister if the press hadn't exposed his rule-breaking? Would former Scottish Health Secretary Michael Matheson have escaped censure for his £11,000 Ipad bill, if he hadn't been exposed in the papers?
Democracy relies on good journalism. And today’s student journalists are the future of trusted news and information.
So The Herald is proud to launch our Student Press Awards for 2024. Our awards will recognise Scotland’s most talented student journalists, production staff and editors. All students studying at Scottish Higher or Further Education establishments are invited to submit work to our panel of judges headed up by The Herald Editor, Catherine Salmond.
Winners of the News Writer of the Year, Features Writer of the Year, Sports Writer of the Year and Columnist of the Year categories will each receive a week’s work experience with The Herald editorial team in Glasgow.
The Student Journalist of the Year will also be offered the unique opportunity to join The Herald editorial team for a four-week paid internship during the summer of 2024.
The deadline for entries is Wednesday, April 24, 2024 and there will be an award ceremony in our Bath Street offices.
The evening includes a drinks reception, official event programme, networking opportunities, the awards presentation and a keynote speech from The Herald Editor, Catherine Salmond.
She said: "We are looking forward to meeting the next generation of journalists and seeing their work. It's an exciting time to be a journalist – and we are keen to help nurture tomorrow's talent."
The categories are: • News Writer of the Year • Features Writer of the Year • Columnist of the Year • Sports Writer of the Year • Scoop of the Year • Student News Brand of the Year • Design of the Year (Newspaper or Magazine) • Best use of Multi Media • Student Journalist of the Year
To enter, click here
For information on how to purchase tickets, please email nina.holmes@newsquest.co.uk
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here