14/5/12

Rachael Revesz from the winter 2012 course starts work today as reporter at New Model Adviser (Citywire). She's covering the investment side, and she says, "Turns out I kind of like financial journalism! Who would have known?...not me."

14/5/12

Sara Cremer has been promoted to Managing Director of Redwood, the UK's leading strategic content agency. Sara completed the PMA course in summer 1994. She was instrumental in the original launch of FHM and has been instrumental in driving Redwood's transition from a customer magazine publisher to a complete multi-channel content agency for blue chip clients such as Barclays and Volvo.

4/5/12

PrintWeek, a Haymarket magazine providing information on the print and paper industry, has announced changes to the editorial team. Hannah Jordan has been appointed deputy news editor and Pamela Mardle has joined the title as a reporter. Both journalists are PMA graduates.

24/4/12

A former PMA alumnus was shortlisted for a Pulitzer prize.

Emma Farge, who attended our postgraduate course in magazine journalism in Summer 2005, was one of a team of Reuters journalists shortlisted for the award for their coverage of reporting in war-torn Libya

Emma, 29, who specialises in Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Reuters, spent six weeks in Tripoli. She said: “It was the assignment of a lifetime. It was an amazing experience and a really exciting time to be there as a journalist.

“There were some low times, like when pro-Gaddafi militia were claiming to have captured a Reuters journalist in Benghazi. At that time, I was the only Reuters reporter there. My family were extremely worried.

“We were also threatened by the family of the former head of security in Libya. That was quite worrying too.”

Reuters’ Middle East team was named as a finalist in the international reporting category, the first time in the news agency's’ text journalism 95-year history. The Pulitzer Prize, established in 1917, is widely seen as the most prestigious award in journalism.

19/4/12

We've just launched a campaign with notgoingtouni and they've supplied some interesting stats from the first week on their website. The Post A-Level course is going to be popular with those who choose to pursue a journalism career and skip the university experience.

18/4/12

If you were listening to a Radio 4 play on Tuesday night you might have heard a name you can never forget, Barunka O'Shaughnessy. She was one of the actresses, and a postgrad from the class of '96. PMAers are an enterprising lot who diversify across the media space. 

4/4/12

We've had our first enquiry about the Apprentice Journalist course launching in October. We're just finalising the content and some other exciting stuff. It's aimed at bright students who want to become journalists and don't want to study at university for three years before embarking on their media career.  

3/4/12

There's always a last-minute rush to apply for the summer course. With deadlines looming for dissertations and finals, it can be stressful getting your application in on time. So take a break and send the form in... you have until Friday 25 May to apply. We have some great candidates on board, and we have just the final few places to fill.

27/3/12

NEW! Today we are launching PMA's post A-Level 12-week course. It is aimed at students aged 18+ who want to become journalists and prefer to save time and money to gain a vocational qualification editors want. You can read here how 19-year old Katie Smith fared on the postgraduate course which finished in March. Her tenacity and drive was a match for any postgrad.

26/3/12

More PMA postgrads move up the ladder to editorship

Tony Griffiths (Summer 2007) has been appointed editor of HFMWeek published by Pageant Media. He remembers Keith's bet that he would make an editorship within five years... and he's glad he didn't bet against this!

And George Carey (Winter 2011) is now editor across three titles for Intelligent Media, replacing Nina Rosandic in that role. Nina is currently editing a magazine for ex-pats in Spain.

8/3/12

Congratulations... everyone passed their Media Law exam. The magazine is printed (but embargoed until tomorrow) and the website is going live at the same time. The editors' panel is assembled and the Guest of Honour is preparing his inspirational talk. Photo opportunities are taking place today up on the roof. And we're shooting the video cutaways.

6/3/12

Some news from the Antipodes where a past PMAer, Rory Kinsella, is thriving:

Hi Keith      I just got promoted so I thought I'd send you a quick update. I'm now features editor of ninemsn in Australia, managing a team of 10 journalists working on 12 magazine and lifestyle websites. It's hard to come back to England with opportunities like this!

Rory 

5/3/12

The postgrads are back in residence. They are all ready for exams and three have now been offered jobs (one has two offers which is a good position to be in.) More exams tomorrow — shorthand — and news on them landing more jobs soon. 

1/3/12 — Summer Application deadline — 25 May 2012.

There is an extension to the submission date for your applications for the Summer Postgraduate course. It is now Friday 25 May 2012. But don't leave it to the last minute. The course is over half full and there are candidates lined up for interview in the next few weeks.

If you want to get a job in journalism and you have the determination to work very hard for nine weeks, you can acquire all the skills you need for today's multimedia journalist.

26/2/12

PMA is test-marketing a NEW 12-week multimedia magazine diploma for post A-level students. It's aimed at school-leavers who want to get cracking at building their career in journalism and don't want to go to university (or build up debt). We will shortly be inviting applications from those passionate about becoming a journalist and have already been blogging and doing work experience. More information coming soon.

22/2/12

It's been all go this month. The Winter crew met their deadline for Seaside Business with minutes to spare. They're now on placement.

Jobs are coming in from past PMAers. In fact the parents of the first PMA baby, Polly May A (now 14), have two jobs for the current crop... writing and social media for an international pest control title.

Mike Butcher is spearheading the membership of our private Facebook group. 

And the application deadline is looming for the summer course... so get your apps in soon!

3/2/12

It's freezing outside, but a hothouse of frenzy inside PMA Towers. Time is flying by and this winter's team is looking and sounding more and more professional by the day. The tutors are giving them the thumbs up for diligence, intelligence and overcoming the odd story not turning out quite how they would want it.

Jobs are coming in and HR people are perking up at the thought of hiring a ready-made rounded multimedia journo.

26/1/12

Chris Brook-Carter popped in at lunchtime to say hello. He is about to take up the post of Editor-in-Chief with Retail Week, Emap. He graduated from PMA in Summer 1998 and went on to carve out a good career with Aroq Publishing. One of his protegés, Katie Smith, is currently taking the Winter course. Small world. 

25/1/12

Some excellent news... Becky Waller-Davies started as junior reporter on Greenbuild magazine, part of Hamerville, this week. So that's all the postgrads from the last course in getting good jobs in the teeth of a tough couple of years.

The current PGs are working on the launch of their magazine. They are getting some good feature and news stories. More will be revealed nearer to the launch date.

14/1/12

Phew! The first Winter 2012 week has flown by. The group is getting to grips with the pace of the course and finding out about each other. They will grow in confidence as they realise they are learning from their mistakes (they will be making a few more yet....). 

9/1/12

It's day one of the Winter course and the group are settling in to discover the little treats we have in store for them. The newspapers have arrived, the coffee pot is topped up and the quizzes and tests have begun!

19/12/11

Lottie's GOT A JOB!!

Lottie Linter, who has been working at Cath Kidston as a paid press and PR assistant since the summer course ended, has just had a great Christmas present – a full-time ­job as web content assistant.

She wrote: “The press team wanted to keep me on, but I applied for another job that came up internally and got it!

“I have to do all copywriting for the website. I'll also get to expand the website over the next year to include more editorial etc (which I will be in charge of) under the new e-comm director.

“I had every skill they wanted from me (feature writing, SEO, HTML, copywriting, proofreading...), as a result of PMA. So thank you!”

6/12/11

Two former PMA alumni have set up in business together, specialising in all forms of PR, marketing and media for companies in the sports, outdoor and related sectors. Alistair Phillips and John Kitchiner attended our postgraduate course in magazine journalism in the summer of 1992 and went on to be editors of various sports and outdoor titles. “We’ve stayed friends ever since, and it somehow made sense to work together,” Alistair said.

“We reckon that we cover all the bases, from consumer magazines and B2B publishing, high-profile websites and national newspapers, picking up several prestigious awards along the way. We’ve also run major publishing brands and led teams at the biggest media houses in the world. This should be a great test of our friendship!”

The company, Spindrift, can be found at www.spindrift101.com

5/12/11

Mike Butcher, TechCrunch Europe, is a social phenomenon. Recently he's been to Buckingham Palace to meet the Royals...  and then I spotted him in consultation with the Prime Minister. Where to next?

1/12/11

Sent out an email shot from Prospects today. So if you're one of our new visitors... welcome to PMA. Thomas Hobbs from the last course has just secured a job on Growth Business, part of Vitesse Media in Old Street. Well done Tom. And tonight we have a reunion of the class of Winter 2011. They are gathering to celebrate being winners of the PTC's New Digital Concept Magazine 2011. And to scrutinise the print magazine that pipped their magazine Festival Business to the post ... Poppy ... Looking forward to their comments on that one!

28/11/11

Two former PMA graduates have just got married. David Quainton, who took the postgraduate course in 2004 and is now editor of the lifestyle magazine PA Life, has wed Gemma O’Reilly, who took the course a year later. Gemma is now online editor at Third Sector. 

The wedding took place in the New Forest and they are honeymooning in Antigua.

There’s clearly something romantic about PMA’s nine-week course: this is the sixth marriage of former graduates!

By the way.. we're now full for the Winter course. If you want to apply for the Summer course, we're interviewing from next week.

 21/11/11

We have one last place on the Winter course because one person has had to defer. It's not too late to get that application in now. We have extended the deadline to this Friday 25 November. Please let us know if you are going to apply, so we can schedule an interview. Call Riva on 020 7383 5800.

14/11/11

Applying for this course online? There has been an upload glitch with older versions of Internet Explorer, so please use Firefox or Safari if you want to avoid the frustration of losing the application. The webby man is looking into this for us!

4/11/11

We're hosting the NCTJ exams today. You may think it odd we don't offer these exams. There's a good reason for that. For instance... one of the NCTJ candidates from the Oxford Mail said it took him 18 months to produce a folder of stories for his assessment. Our students produce twice that amount in six weeks. The NCTJ reporting exams are made up stories that everyone has to write so that examiners can compare their work. Our lot take exams or tests most days of the course based on real life news and stories. We know what editors prefer to see.

2/11/11

Interviewing today for the Winter course. It's a thorough process, but we have to be sure all candidates can cope with the speed and intensity of this learning process. The new video (up soon) will prove that the course works if you work on getting to grips with all the skills a multimedia journalist needs. That's why this Summer's postgrads found good jobs so fast.

Read more...