Two Pupils Win Best Print And Design Award In National Schools Competition

Two Third Year pupils won the Best Print and Design Award and were Highly Commended for Editor of the Year in the national Shine School Media Awards.

The Shine School Media Awards is a national competition rewarding senior school pupils who produce outstanding newspapers, magazines, podcasts or websites. Pupils are encouraged to explore the different areas of creative media, building useful skills like teamwork, leadership, editorial flair, design and production, and commercial awareness.

Katie Hunt and Evie Severn created The Dovecote, a stunning magazine packed full of pupil writing, art and more. They worked tirelessly to collate, edit, design and produce an impressive publication which they then entered into the 2021 competition which includes 20 award categories.

Katie and Evie came first in Best Print and Design with judges commenting that their publication was “very visually appealing with a calm colour palette, we wanted to turn the page and discover what else was in store.” Their prize will be a workshop run by the British Print Industry Federation.

They were also Highly Commended for the Editor of the Year Award which was judged by national media editors including Kevin Maguire of the Daily Mirror and Camilla Swift, supplements editor at The Spectator.

The results were announced virtually this year, which replaced the usual gala awards ceremony in London.

Evie said: “I really enjoyed the whole process and I am so pleased Katie and I were able to experience it together. The hardest part was editing because we wanted to celebrate all of the pupil work we received, as it was all so amazing, but we had to chop it down from 80 pages to 50!”

Katie said: “The experience was amazing, from the planning stages to editing to creating the design, it all presented opportunities that I have had the chance to do before – and I loved being able to celebrate and showcase the incredible talents of our fellow pupils. I enjoyed all of the experience, however I think my favourite part was the creative side, such as choosing the front cover and deciding on the final colour palette.”

Headmaster, Huw Williams said: “I am extremely proud of both Katie and Evie! Not only have they won a national award, they have also highlighted within the magazine the wonderful creativity of our pupils.

At Yarm we believe in exposing children to a whole host of opportunities inside and outside of the classroom that will allow them to explore new interests and pick up new hobbies that they both enjoy and learn something from. The Dovecote magazine has been a labour of love for the girls who have used their creative talents to produce something with real literary and artistic merit. That it has been recognised by the judges is an added bonus in what has been a worthwhile and rewarding project.”