A TEAM of young journalists from a North-East school have won national acclaim at a student newspaper awards night in London.

The news team from Hummersknott Academy, in Darlington, won the Rising Stars 2022 award at the Shine School Media Awards, for their school newspaper, The Hummersknott Academical.

The students were also Highly Commended for their latest front page, which judges described as: “A clear, bold cover [that] blends school news with the editorial team’s take on the Ukraine war via an excellent interview with the school principal.”

Former editor Jessica Morgan and incoming editor Owen Ovens attended the event in Mayfair with English teacher Dominic Webber, who oversees the student team.

The Northern Echo: The Hummersknott Academical news team show off their highly-commended front page The Hummersknott Academical news team show off their highly-commended front page

Owen said: “I am ecstatic over the result and extremely proud to lead the now award-winning Hummersknott Academical team.

“I am so proud of everyone and am very grateful to my predecessor, Jessica, for leaving me with an amazing and talented team of young journalists. I hope during my time as editor to uphold the same high standard of quality journalism that she encouraged.”

James Keating, principal of Hummersknott Academy, said: “It’s absolutely fantastic to see the news team’s efforts recognised at a national level. The students and Mr Webber all put in a heroic effort to make every edition of the school newspaper the best it can be, and the results speak for themselves.

“I want to congratulate the whole team, and I look forward to reading all about it in the next issue!”

The Hummersknott Academical previously saw awards success when the newspaper’s first editor, Jessica Fairley, won Star Student of the Year in The Northern Echo Education Awards, in part for her work establishing the newspaper.

The latest edition of the newspaper can be found at: https://fliphtml5.com/nhvzu/fjxj