Cambridge students win prestigious young journo prize

Of the four awards up for grabs, three were taken by Cambridge students

Meg Byrom (left) and Quincy Elise de Vries won the top prizesVarsity

by Niamh Sayers

This article is 4 years old

Sunday May 8 2022, 9:02pm

Three Cambridge students have been awarded prizes for their journalism by the Orwell Society (6/5).

The society’s prestigious Young Journalist’s Award is given to promising student journalists aged 30 or below.

Each winner received £1,500, while runners-up were given £500.

The winners also received three years’ membership of the Orwell Society and free membership of the National Union of Journalists.

Applicants entered one of two categories, submitting either a review or a column to be judged.

Entrants also had to demonstrate how they have been influenced by the life and works of George Orwell.

The best column award went to postgraduate student Quincy Elise de Vries. Her column entitled “The Cult of Personality of Elon Musk” examined the legacy of the controversial tech entrepreneur.

De Vries told Varsity she was “honoured to have won this prize inspired by George Orwell’s works”.

Second year Queens’ HSPS student Meg Byrom won the review category for “Sam Fender: the canary in the coal mine”, which discussed the place of Sam Fender’s music among political changes in the North.

She said she was “absolutely buzzing”, and winning the prize “validated and supported [her] hopes to pursue a career in journalism”.

A third Cambridge student, Harry Goodwin, was awarded runner-up in the column category. His piece, ‘New Caledonia: Metal and Mourning’, focused on Macron’s treatment of New Caledonia.

Goodwin said he was “very grateful to have been named runner-up”, and plans to spend his prize money on “a range of cultivated ends”.

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The three students have all written for Cambridge publications, with Meg and Quincy having written pieces for Varsity and Goodwin being a former editor-in-chief of TCS.

Dr Jaron Murphy, chair of the judging panel, said that the prize “has encouraged the emergence of a new generation of journalists concerned about political and cultural developments, social injustice, and holding power to account in the UK and internationally.”

She added “they are launched into what we hope will be long, impactful and rewarding careers in journalism.”

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