Uni students’ election coverage up for national radio award

Journalism students from the University of Northampton (UON) who stayed up all night to provide live election updates last May, have been shortlisted in the 2024 Community Radio Awards.

The live radio show entitled Vote24 was hosted by NLive Radio, the Northampton local radio station which is owned by the University and was broadcast nationally via the UK Community Radio Network.

UON students on the BA Multimedia Journalism and BA Multimedia Sports Journalism courses were at the heart of the collaboration with the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC) and 21 universities to provide live updates from election counts across the country.

UON Vice Chancellor, Professor Anne-Marie Kilday, said: “Delivering impact is a core priority for the university, not just the positive impact on the lives of our students, but also the impact on the community in which the University exists.

“Vote24 not only gave our students a taste of what it will be like in their future careers but also made sure they were part of the important process of making sure elections are open and transparent.”

Kate Ironside, UON’s Senior Lecturer in Journalism and Media said: “What the students did on election night replicated industry practice, they did exactly what the BBC, Sky News, Global Radio and other big industry employers do on election night.

“The students were on air from 10pm and worked through till 6am the next day reporting the election results live while staying accurate and impartial throughout.

“This was superb preparation for jobs in any newsroom – and we’re delighted the students’ work has been shortlisted for these awards.”

Nlive Radio has also been shortlisted for the Special Content Show of the Year for presenter Simon Hoggarth’s Simon Selects Show on Monday evenings which featured an episode entitled ‘When the Beatles Played Northampton.’

NLive Radio will find out if they have won both awards during a ceremony in Cardiff on Saturday 16 November which follows the UK Community Radio Networks National Community Radio conference which will see members of NLive Radio address the other stations present about best practice in community radio.

The station broadcasts on 106.9fm across Northampton, online at nliveradio.com, it has its own dedicated Smart Phone app, and you can listen on smart speakers by asking it to “Launch N Live Radio.”