Abingdonian 2020

64 The Abingdonian ‘Coronacrisis’ - which took an effort from the whole editorial team to come up with - the page was said to be ‘clear, uncomplicated and powerful’ with ‘no ambiguities, just clarity.’ The front page saw a recent redesign with adjustments to fonts and the addition of a martlet bird logo in Abingdon cerise. Next year it will be joined by an official Shine Awards seal of approval as well. Our success was also seen in our highly commended award for Best Print and Design. I’d like to thank my fellow designers, Matthew Viner and Sam Penrose, for what can be quite a lengthy and arduous task. We were also highly commended for ‘Best Overall Content’ and ‘Best Newspaper’ for which I’d like to thank our writers and editors. Special thanks go to Samuel King, our editor, who was pivotal in the creation, management, and application of the paper. As I step into the editorial role this year, I hope I can just manage to get an entry into the award, let alone achieve such success again. I would also like to thank our section editors Johan Nerlov, Lachlan Jones, and Ben Lisemore for the effort they have put into news, features, and sport respectively. I look forward to seeing the continually high quality work they will produce this year, as well as that of all our staff writers. Of all the core school publications, The Martlet continues to be the only award winning paper! Rory Bishop, 6MS Shine Media Awards Success Over Easter The Martlet Editorial Team soldiered on as we sought to uphold the quality of the paper and its content throughout lockdown and have it be a staple of normality in an ever-changing world. As a part of this, we entered the annual Shine Media Awards. The awards are arguably the highlight of the scholastic journalism calendar, an event matched by few others in esteem and acclaim. We had already begun piecing together the application prior to lockdown. After a series of deep analytical discussions as to what issue we would submit, and extensive email chains grilling each other on what could only be described as the peak of journalism, we eventually sorted an application come May. Hours were spent trawling through articles, and in the end not a semicolon was left absent, nor a headline uncapitalised as tireless nights were spent perfecting our craft. The Financial Times would cower in fear if they ever saw the rigorous editing standards of Johan Nerlov and Miss Williamson. All jokes aside, the selection process was quite thorough. Our last entry to the Shine Awards had been in 2017 when helmed by the likes of Nick Harris and Blake Jones, who had left us with large shoes to fill, a pressure only increased by our three year absence. We plan well in advance for the Shine Awards, considering the range of journalism and the role of local news, as well as other factors based on previous feedback of ‘dry content.’ We wanted to come back stronger than ever before, and whilst ‘tireless nights’ might be somewhat of an exaggeration, I would like to commend the team and especially the editors for compiling the application. We had high hopes that quarantine would leave other schools scrambling desperately to meet the deadlines and thought we had a strong chance this year. Whilst the event would usually be held in London, giving students the chance to celebrate their achievements in person, naturally this year this was not the case. After the application was put in, all went silent for a while until news of the June pre-recorded award ceremony quickly came in. When the day arrived we were happy to be met with quite some success. We came away with two awards, and were highly commended in three other categories. The first, and most commendable of our victories was Sam Penrose’s success in the ‘Best Stand Alone Piece’ category. Having interviewed his aunt, Dr Catherine Penrose, prior to lockdown, the piece has become one of the crown jewels of The Martlet in recent years. Normally a designer, Sam only infrequently writes for the paper but his article, wittily titled ‘Organ Donations: Have You Got the Guts?’ saw a tightly analysed and comprehensively researched article of journalism. Bearing a pair of lungs across the double page spread, it is unsurprising to see why this article had such success. Judge Liz Hunt commented that she ‘could see this on the health pages of a national newspaper’ and Sam will receive a personal tutorial with Liz Hunt in the new year for his success. Our second success was for ‘Best Newspaper Front Page.’ Whilst this was my own piece, a quickly dated coronavirus explanation, it was definitely a group effort. Designed by Sam Penrose and with the title