Young journalists visit the Guardian for lunch time Q&A session (original) (raw)

In November I had the opportunity to visit a land of dreams and opportunity – no, not America, the Guardian offices in King’s Cross! I was visiting the Guardian along with other contributors from LiveMagUK for a lunch and learn session.

After checking out the food (hey, we all have our priorities) and marvelling at the beauty of the morning conference room, I sat down to listen to two talks that changed my life forever…well, I can’t actually see that far ahead, but I’m pretty sure they will.

The first editor that spoke to us Maya Wolfe-Robinson gave us a crash course in how to get your foot in the door of journalism. We learnt about what newspapers look for in a journalist, such as experience, enthusiasm and a specific field of interest. For example before working as an editor for Comment is Free Maya was a law journalist after studying law at university. She told us how being passionate about what you wrote about and, indeed, about your writing was key to being a successful writer.

I am fairly clueless about the world of journalism and a lot of what Maya said surprised me. I’d always imagined that you have to slave for years and years for practically no money, searching endlessly for a village newsletter to take you on so you can gain previous experience before a popular newspaper will take you on. But actually there are loads of places to break into the press. One of these is the Guardian’s own Comment is Free, a place for aspiring writers to voice their opinions, I’d never heard of, but will definitely check out. Or Shout Out, a website for under 25s focused on political and debate writing.

The other editor who spoke to us was Caspar Llewellyn Smith, the head of culture and arts coverage at the Guardian. This was a much more informal talk – it was basically just a big chat about writing, punctuated by people popping in and out, sandwiches and – the highlight of my day – Debbie Harry walking past. That’s right, Debbie Harry, lead singer of Blondie and my musical idol walked past, and I was in the Guardian. The Guardian! Could this day be any cooler?

Caspar’s talk ran over by 45 minutes but I can honestly say I did not notice the time as I was completely absorbed and trying to write down everything so I wouldn’t forget anything. He told us more about how to get into journalism and how to pitch an article, what to put into a feature and other things like that.

So these are my top tips for any aspiring young writers, off the back of my lunch and learn session: follow your passion. There’s no point writing about something you don’t care about, it won’t sound as good. Find somewhere to showcase your work, there are lots of places out there where you can get work published. And if you can’t find somewhere, make it – be it a blog or a website or an article. And finally make sure your friends at school know who Debbie Harry is. It will make your boasting just that bit more effective.

Lily Groom (Live Mag UK)