A YOUNG reporter has secured a national award by completing senior journalism exams and submitting a news interview judged to be the best in the country.

Charlotte Bowe, who works as a Darlington and Tees Valley reporter at The Northern Echo, sat the National Qualification in Journalism exam in July which stands as a benchmark between trainee and senior journalists.

The four-part test challenges a range of journalism skills, including the news interview portion which sees reporters writing a story to deadline after talking to an actor briefed on a dramatic incident.

Miss Bowe, 24, from Darlington, was awarded the Society of Editors’ Award for her story that judges described as “a piece of copy to make a news desk very happy”.

The reporter, who has worked at the paper since November 2015, said: “I’m absolutely thrilled that all of the hours of revision, hard work and the gruelling exam day itself was all worth it.

"Receiving the award is a genuine honour and I feel very lucky to work with such talented colleagues at a newspaper that covers such a huge array of stories every single day."

Andy Richardson, editor of The Northern Echo, said: “It is great to see Charlotte doing so well in her exams and winning this award, but none of her colleagues at The Northern Echo will be surprised.

“In the short time she has been with us Charlotte has shown that she has all of the attributes to become an excellent reporter and we are delighted to have her as part of our team.”