Innovative collaboration will help students get their first step into the industry
An innovative partnership between the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and a growing sports website has been launched to help students on the BA (Hons) Sports Journalism course get their first step into the industry.
The link with Prost International will give students an opportunity to improve their writing and editing skills, putting into practise what they learn as part of their degree course.
They’ll then have their work published and promoted by the site.
Course leader Steve Canavan said: “Getting good work published will be motivation for our students who already produce some very good content for their own blogs and UCLanLive, our course website.
“The care and thought Prost have shown towards our students since the pilot started has been incredible.
"Making sure students are fully equipped to work as sports journalists when they graduate is central to our course, so the links with industry are really important and we aim to improve them all the time."
— BA (Hons) Sports Journalism Course Leader Steve Canavan
“It’s so good to see the students properly integrated into a company, not just be left to sink or swim but to have some proper support and mentorship.”
“Prost see themselves as an academy to develop new sports journalism talent and within days the first tranche of students has already received very good feedback not only about the standard of work but also their personal growth inside a team environment.”
Prost International is based in England and grew out of Prost Amerika in the United States.
As well as football match reports and features, there are opportunities for them to work on social media and in podcasting.
The site will enable the students, who will be offered training under the supervision of Prost editors, to produce content in a wide variety of sports.
Students are encouraged to come up with their own ideas for features and columns, and Prost editors will “run with it.”
"We are delighted to embark on this partnership with UCLan and its students"
— Prost Amerika and Prost International Founder Steve Clare
Steve Clare, who originally founded Prost Amerika in 2006 in Seattle with International following 12 years later, said: “Currently there are few bridges between university journalism courses and the real world, between the academic and the practical.
“We are delighted to embark on this partnership with UCLan and its students. The pilot project has gone superbly with some excellent contributions and pieces by the UCLan group already having been published.
“Prost is looking forward to providing a friendly but challenging environment for further UCLan students in the months to come."
The collaboration will not be limited to the written word. A new a podcast called The Lancashire Football Show will be produced and presented by a team of students from the sports journalism course and be integrated with the site's written content.
Prost is also hoping to develop its link with UCLan and is keen to talk to course leaders in computing and graphic design where students may also benefit from work experience.