“You get to learn for eight hours a day”: Jennifer Cartwright on a year of trust in the Community News Project

Community news reporter Jennifer Cartwright is reflecting on her first year at the Yorkshire Evening Post, from landing front pages to a portfolio of features and helping to bring younger audiences into local news.

Jennifer joined the CNP in March 2025, combining her reporter role at the Yorkshire Evening Post with working towards the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism.

“I’d say that I’ve done so many things that last year I would never have imagined myself doing,” she said. “Getting my first ever front page has been crazy, and going to the shop and seeing that has been really surreal.”

Jennifer’s previous writing experience came from personal essays and opinion pieces on blogs. “I still remember the first interview – being by the phone, waiting to type in the number and feeling nervous,” she said. “Now it’s just part of every single week, talking to all sorts of different people.”

The NCTJ training has been central to that growth. “The course has really built up my journalism toolkit and made me a better writer,” she said. “Media law has helped so much and even shorthand – at the start I couldn’t even do 40 words per minute. Now I’m entered into the 80 words per minute exam. The speeds that once felt like people talking in fast-forward now feel slow, which is so weird.”

Jennifer enjoys health stories around under-represented issues. One recent piece focused on a TikTok-famous young woman who launched a neurodiverse-friendly clothing brand. “She trusted me to open up about her experience of ADHD and autism,” Jennifer said. “She shared it on her social media, which has about 100,000 followers. Neurodiversity is very under-represented, especially with a typical newspaper demographic. It felt like breaking the mould.”

As the youngest in her Leeds-focused newsroom, Jennifer uses TikTok to connect with the city’s large student population and attract younger readers. Originally from nearby Harrogate, she’s got to know her patch quickly. “TikTok is a big inspiration – if there’s anything connected to Leeds or the universities on there, I’ll reach out,” she said. “It attracts younger readers because they recognise they’ve seen it before, so it feels like the paper’s talking to them. It seems like such an old-fashioned thing to actually buy a newspaper, but that changes when young people can see either themselves or someone very much like themselves in the paper.”

Her work leads to repeat contacts. After a feature on Extinction Rebellion, a member got back in touch. “Months later they reached out again and said, ‘Here’s this idea we’d like you to cover’ – about a couple walking the length of the River Wharfe to raise awareness about water safety,” she said. “It’s one thing when someone says they’re happy with the coverage. It’s another when they say, ‘We trust you to do it again and go further in depth.'”

Jennifer lives in Harrogate and commutes to Leeds. “Initially I thought it would be office-based nine-to-five,” she said. “But it’s taken me out of that — one day I’m getting the bus to one part of Leeds, the next I’m somewhere completely different. Journalism is great for anyone who doesn’t want to sit still.”

For Jennifer, the best part is simple. “Working in this industry is the biggest confidence boost ever,” she said. “Having editors and members of the public trust me with their stories is such an honour. You get your job basically to do fun things and talk to interesting people. I’ve always loved learning – and now I get to do that for eight hours every day.”