MA Sports Journalism – St Mary’s University

The MA in Sports Journalism at St Mary’s University in Twickenham, London was the first postgraduate sports journalism programme to be accredited by the NCTJ. Taught in collaboration with the award-winning team of journalists at News Associates and Sportsbeat, it offers a one of the best routes into the industry (one year full-time or two years part-time).

Each year they select up to 20 students who embark on an innovative multimedia training programme that combines cutting edge journalism training, work placements and preparation for the NCTJ Diploma. The course leader says there is a strong focus on storytelling, whether that is through live sports coverage, video reports, social media, podcasting, or documentary film making.

Students also get the opportunity to edit and create stories for their own magazine sportsgazette.co.uk as well as other platforms. They employ female sports journalists to teach on the programme and they are particularly proud of the number of female graduates they have trained.

Their graduates work in every sector of the industry around the world and many have won awards for their journalism.

NCTJ elective modules offered:

• Sports journalism
• Media law court reporting
• Public affairs for journalists
• Shorthand for journalists
• Data journalism
• PR and communications for journalists