Uni helps Harry go from blogger to Mirror sports journalist

A former bedroom sports blogger has credited his university for setting him on the path to working for one of the UK’s biggest tabloids.

Harry Davies has been appointed as a boxing and MMA cage fighting writer for the Daily Mirror, just a few weeks after graduating from the University of Northampton’s Multimedia Sports Journalism course.

Harry’s always been a cage fighting fan and set up his own MMA blog, The UFC Updates, while still at school.

But it was at university where he polished off the rough edges of his sports writing to bring it up to industry level standard. He put what he was learning into practice, by combined his studies with writing for MMA cage fighting website, Bloody Elbow – before successfully applying for the Mirror job this summer.

“The degree massively helped me for work in the real world,” said the 22 year old from Ely, Cambridgeshire.

“My knowledge of MMA has come from my passion for the sport, but the ins and outs of presenting, writing and reporting was something I learned thanks to the help and guidance of my lecturers.

“The time and support they gave me throughout my three years at the university was invaluable. I highly recommend the course to anyone who is considering a career in journalism.”

Harry has started his Mirror career working from home, writing news about the biggest bouts in boxing and MMA, and will be covering live events from later in the year.

He said: “It’s all very surreal. I had originally planned to find a summer job to save up some money and move to London for full-time work later this year. However, when this role came to my attention, I couldn’t pass it up.

“To be writing for an internationally recognised paper such as the Mirror, so shortly after university, is a great achievement and I am very proud.”

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