Bournemouth University won top prizes at journalism awards

On 12th December 2024, Bournemouth University’s graduate Natasha Salloum and BU’s news website ‘The Breaker’ won journalism awards.

The award ceremony, held at Sky News in London each year, celebrates excellence in journalism training throughout the UK.

Winners are selected from over 3000 students enrolled on its accredited courses.

BU Graduate Natasha Salloum won “The Best TV News Feature” category for her documentary ‘Four Years Forward’.

The film focuses on four survivors of the 2020 Beirut blast, the trauma they faced and how the community came together to help rebuild their lives.

Natasha, a BU Masters graduate in Multimedia Journalism said regarding winning the prize: “The Beirut blast was the worst day of my life, I thought I had lost my father when he went missing after the explosion. Miraculously, he survived, though with life-threatening injuries. That experience shaped ‘Four Years Forward’ a story of survivors who came together through a shared sense of community to heal and rebuild.

“This is so overwhelming because of the personal connection. This means so much to me, to my family, especially my dad, who almost did not make it.”

Additionally, ‘The Breaker,’ a multimedia news and features site run by a master’s student at Bournemouth University, won the “Best Online News Site” award.

In 2024, the site covered topics ranging from the Gaza crisis and the war in Ukraine to dowry-related deaths in Kerala and the transformative role of AI in fashion.

‘The Breaker’ also won the top prize in 2022 for its reporting on the Ukraine War, marking its second win for the “Best Online News Site”.

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Thanh Nguyen, a master’s student in Multimedia Journalism said “I think I am speaking for the rest of my class when I say we never expected to do this level of journalism. We published some exciting work, which was very difficult and frustrating when we were doing it. I am so grateful to have had this opportunity to work with teammates who pushed each other to achieve more.”

Bournemouth University’s Professor Chindu Sreedharan, Programme Leader for MA Multimedia Journalism, also said: “What makes the Breaker stand out is that it enables students to tackle complex global stories, as one editorial team. From covering the Gaza crisis to exploring AI’s role in storytelling this year, they had the opportunity to experiment with tools and techniques that reflect the changing face of journalism. It becomes doubly rewarding for us, as their mentors when all their hard work is also acknowledged externally.”

Featured Image via X @BJTC_UK

Inserted Image via Natasha Salloum’s YouTube