The Reason, Ermysted’s student newspaper, has achieved national success for the second year in succession at the Shine School Media Awards 2020.

The school student newspaper won the award for ‘Best Podcast’, an impressive feat given The Reason Podcast was only started up in January of this year, and was Highly Commended in six further categories: Best Stand-Alone Piece, awarded to Deputy Editor Will Danson; Most Outstanding Student (Shine Scholar), awarded to Editor Harvey Stroh; Best Marketing Strategy; Best Newspaper Front Page; Best Community and Environmental Strategy; and Best Overall Content.

Each year the Shine School Media Awards, sponsored by the likes of Google, The Daily Mail and The Times Educational Supplement, is hosted at the Stationers Guild in London. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions the ceremony in London was cancelled and a pre-recorded ceremony was published to announce the results.

Judges described The Reason Podcast recorded deep into April’s lockdown, as a “thoughtful programme” and commented on how it showed “quick-thinking and ingenuity… at that extraordinary time.” The judges added that “the students of 2020 have lost so much, notably a chance to say goodbye to friends, and this podcast has a bittersweet resonance as a result.” The episode featured Year 13 students Luca Campana (Podcast Director), Vincent Askins, George Boulter, Nheyavan Shelvarajah and Daniel Coghill.

Editor Harvey Stroh, Year 13, said “I have greatly enjoyed my time at The Reason and I am extremely proud of what we have built in such a short space of time, with the amount of national acclamation achieved as a bonus.” He added that he “hoped that we have built an entity to last so that others get the opportunity to take part in student journalism as I did.”

Podcast Director Luca Campana, Year 13, added “this is a wonderful victory for the Podcast team and a testament to all of the hard work they’ve put in over the course of the year. I’d like to give special thanks to Vincent, George, Nheyavan and Daniel for appearing in the award-winning episode of the Podcast as well as the rest of The Reason team for their support and of course, I’d like to thank Mr Barrett for his unwavering confidence in us. We will be sad to say goodbye to the Podcast as we move onto the next stage of our lives but we can rest assured that it will continue to thrive in the capable hands of our successors.”

Harvey Stroh