A self-employed builder from Broadstairs has won Media Trust’s annual ‘Breaking into News’ competition, run in partnership with ITV News.
The nationwide initiative addresses and promotes diversity in the broadcast journalism industry. Toby Winson was named as the 2019 winner at an award ceremony held at ITV studios in London.
This year’s competition drew hundreds of entries, covering a wide range of subjects, from which a judging panel carefully selected ten regional finalists.
With the support of professional mentor, Chloe Oliver from ITV News Meridian, Toby created a news report on educating school children about the dangers of alcohol. As an ex-alcoholic who had previously been blogging about his own experiences, Toby had hoped that his report would find a bigger platform from which to raise more awareness and the judges recognized Toby’s unique and personal take on this issue.
Toby said, “This is absolutely unreal! I can’t thank Media Trust and ITV enough for picking me. I saw everyone’s reports and they were all insanely good, so I’m really grateful. Seeing the two hundred words I had written down in my application, transformed into a proper news story and aired on TV has been unbelievable. I wanted to raise awareness to an important issue and with the help of ITV and Media Trust I’ve been able to do so. Entering this competition was the best thing I’ve ever done. If you are thinking about applying next year, 100% do it!”
As the overall winner of the competition, Toby’s report was broadcast on ITV and he also receives £400 worth of journalistic equipment.
Runners-up were named as Mariah Sharp, a student from Wellingborough and Katie Orchard, a youth worker from London. Mariah’s report focused on Autism-Friendly Workplaces for ITV Anglia whilst Katie’s report looked at Pupil Referral Units.
Launched in 2011 and now in its eighth year, ‘Breaking into News’ provides people from all backgrounds the opportunity to gain experience of life as a reporter, both in front of and behind the news camera. Previous finalists have gone on to secure production and broadcasting roles across ITV news regions. Entries for 2020 will open in the Spring. Find out more at www.mediatrust.org.
