LSJ CLASS OF 2013

Maria Neves from the 6M January course wrote to say: "After the course I started to work as a correspondent in London. I've covered big events in the city and had my features published in the magazines of Editora Abril, which is a major Brazilian publisher and printing company and one of the biggest media holdings in Latin America."

She has also had an article on shoes published in the Brazilian edition of Glamour magazine, publishes two blogs and is studying for an MA in international politics. 

"Taking the course at LSJ was the best decision I have ever made in my life," she wrote. "Of course, things have been difficult in terms of money but I am sure the results will come. The best thing I took from the course was 'to think like a journalist every single day'. " She is currently negotiating with a publisher over a partnership venture relating to one of her blogs.

Meanwhile Tom Norton, another 6M student (pictured above) was appointed editor of Sound and Stage magazine for ITP Publishing in Dubai. The B2B title is centred around the events and production industry in the Middle East.

He said: "I genuinely thought of giving up a hundred times and grew to loathe people who just told be to 'stick at it' and something would turn up. Well, as it turns out, sometimes it does - and often in ways you can never really imagine.

"For those happy to relocate, I fully recommend looking into the Middle East. The ex-pat community is huge and publishing there is still a burgeoning and exciting industry."

New magazine launches are frequent, which adds to the range of job opportunities available. ITP alone has 79 titles under its publishing umbrella, including Esquire, Time Out, Grazia and OK.

He said: "It's a little out of my wheelhouse given my past publishing experience but if the LSJ has taught be anything, it's the importance of expanding your writing experience whenever and wherever possible." In 2014 he moved on to become online editor with Esquire Middle East, based in the same building. The following year he became features editor for ShortList Dubai and in 2016 he became digital editor for Conde Nast Traveller Middle East.

From the same course, Rachelle Harry wrote to say that after completing internships at Health and Fitness, Men's Fitness and Men's Health magazines, she was offered her first paid sub-editing shift for Men's Health and a trial as a junior writer for Health and Fitness. Maria Marinageli from the same course wrote in 2014 to say she had been offered a job working for a local paper in her home town of Ancona, Italy, while Eleanor Wilson from the 6M September course started an internship in 2014 with Journeys magazine.

Diana McCormick from the 6MS course had freelance articles on interiors and travel published in the Daily Mail in 2014.

Rosanna Spence was one of four students from the 3M autumn course to launch a blogging/review website, yesboy.com, in February 2014, and she was also hired as features writer/editor for Casual Dining magazine.  From the same course, Carolina Pain gained work filming video interviews for MSN Brazil. She later teamed up with a well-known Brazilian broadcast journalist to write about sustainability, healthy living and women's issues.

STUDENT UPDATES

Any attempt to collate accurate information about where past students have ended up is doomed to failure, if only because people change jobs more frequently than in the past, and get in touch intermittently. 

PLEASE regard everything on this site as a first draft. Pulling together emails, gossip and Facebook comments is a haphazard process - so if for any reason you have been missed out or misrepresented, it's only an admin error.

Give me a shout via email or Facebook if we can update the blog - and see presscorps.blogspot.com too for details of former No Sweat students from 2004-2009, and media law students from Press Association (London) and City College, Brighton.

TRAINING FOR SCHOOL LEAVERS: see journalism4schools.com for free advice

LSJ COURSES: see lsj.org

ANGRY PEOPLE IN LOCAL NEWSPAPERS: a salutary warning for press photographers - see http://apiln.blogspot.com

LONDON COMMUNITY WEBSITES: See www.londonvoices.com in case there's a local community site you might be able to contribute to.

STUDENT BLOGS: (suggestions welcome)
jasonnparkinson.com (distance learning)
nuggetoftruth.wordpress.com (Sarah Fisher, 6M Sep 07)
natashayoung.wordpress.com (Online PG, 2009)
dontstopthejourney.webs.com (Jillian Stevens, Online PG, 2009)
whenthegramophonerings.wordpress.com (Andrew Evans, 3M Sep 09)
galinka.co.uk (Galina Atchkassova-Portianoi, 6M Sep 07)
charliewalkerexplore.co.uk (Charlie Walker, 3M Sep 09)

casualravings.com (Chris Wilkins, Online PG, 2009)

annmorgan.me (Ann Morgan, 9M Jan 2011)

hilarymunro.com (Distance learning, 2011)

LSJ CLASS OF 2012

Of the 3M January Class of 2012, Aline Oyamada returned to Brazil, where she started writing about finance and business for the national magazine, Exame. She was later hired by the business and economics newspaper Valor Economico as a staff reporter writing about international finance for three years before returning to London. In 2016 she wrote to say she was based in Sao Paulo, working as an emerging markets reporter for Bloomberg. From the autumn 3M class, Rachel Huggins worked as a data researcher for Centaur Media, based in Central London, before being promoted to marketing and publications executive, while Alice Audley from the 3M April class completed an internship at the Telegraph before working as Peter Oborne's editorial assistant. She was then offered a post as commissioning editor on the paper's features desk. A committed blogger, she is also editor of a trade publication for the blogging community called Blogosphere Magazine. From the same class, Nelson Moura was named 'Best European Travelblogger' for 2014.

LSJ CLASS OF 2011

Of those students completing their studies in 2011, Clive Rozario (3M Jan) finished an internship with the music trade magazine IQ before securing a bursary from the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers to help him complete an MA in electronic publishing at City University. He continued to write reviews for sites like AAA Music and Gigwise, as well as his own musical blog, Musical CPR before securing a job with Universal on their music platform uDiscover and taking over the aaamusic website.

Daniele Guido Gessa from the 6M course already had extensive writing experience in Italy when he came to London to study, but the LSJ course allowed him to contribute to a variety of Italian outlets as a 'London correspondent', including Il Fatto Quotidiano, TM News and Agenzia Giornalistica Italia. In 2016 he returned to Italy to work as a TV journalist for Radiotelevisione Italiana, based in the Potenza area (above, bottom).

Hal Hodson (6M Sep 2010) had work published in The Guardian, Independent and the magazine Cosmos before securing a reporter's job with Information Age, edited by another former LSJ student, Pete Swabey.  In 2012 he was appointed technology reporter for New Scientist, based in Boston, and in 2016 became technology correspondent for The Economist. Nia Charpentier has been working for Sublime magazine and acting as arts and culture co-ordinator for Shoreditch radio.
From the 9M Sep 2010 class, Lucia Psenakova has had pieces published in the Hamstead and Highgate Express, Camden Private Tenant magazine and the Early Years Educator, while Luca Foschi returned to Italy where he entered a collaboration with a Sardinian newspaper to write for the cultural pages as a freelance. Following a course in war reporting in Rome he joined the Italian army in Lebanon and Afghanistan as an embedded journalist, writing for the Corriere della Sera, before freelancing from Beirut for a variety of titles (foschiluca.com).

From the 6M January course, Gabriele Perrone (pictured above, top) returned to Milan and within two months had landed a job as a full-time writer for a new Italian website, www.lettera43.it. Sharp-eyed fellow students may have also spotted his byline on some sports stories in The Independent during his short internship in London.

Meanwhile Emily Overy from the 3M September course was appointed editor of Vine magazine in Sevenoaks. In 2015 she was appointed lifestyle editor at thomson.co.uk, covering Thomson and First Choice holidays.

Angus McNeice from the 9M January course was appointed deputy editor of the Santiago Times in Chile after interning at the newspaper. 

In 2013 he wrote: "I'm absolutely loving it. It's incredibly long hours since we are such a small team, but we cover national news and every day is interesting, with the presidential elections coming up.

"I hung around writing for them far past my internship, so persistence - and of course the valuable skills I gained at the LSJ - paid off." 
He went on to edit the Santiago Times before becoming Europe correspondent for China Daily UK. 

From the same course Max Mueller won a place in the freelance writers' pool for an engineering trade publisher and Ann Morgan, a freelance sub-editor at The Guardian, was approached by a couple of literary agents interested in her Year of Reading the World blog, ayearofreadingtheworld.com. A book describing her literary adventures was published in the UK and America in 2015. George Nelson was heading to America for an internship with the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

LSJ CLASS OF 2010

Perhaps the single most ambitious project undertaken by a student in 2010 was the 40,000-mile, four-year, round-the-world bike trek undertaken by Charlie Walker from the 3M Sep 2009 class. Charlie started working for the Daily Express travel desk before embarking on his epic journey in July 2010, since when he has continued to chronicle his exploits on charliewalkerexplore.co.uk.

Of the 3M January class, Robbie Blakeley departed for Brazil, where he contributed sports stories to the Rio Times, while Niamh Griffin became the latest in a long succession of LSJ students to head west to Bristol as a features writer for South West News and Sport. Robbie was later appointed senior sports reporter for the Rio Times and Niamh moved to IPC Media as a senior features writer in 2011.

Photographer Kate Shortt made a couple of trips to the Burma/China border on a sustainability project before undertaking another project in Mongolia, while Simon Willmore interned at Canary Wharf with the online travel magazine travelbite.co.uk.

Within a month of graduating he was embarking on his first press trip, a five-day jaunt to Tunisia, including a night in the desert with a Bedouin community. He later went on to become a freelance contributor for Absolute Publishing, the Sunday Times and Travel Daily Media, as well as being a senior online content editor for Groupon.

Adam Leach (3M April 2010) secured an internship with Redactive publishing on Supply Management magazine which led to a staff job, while Sabine Klensch became an account manager for a PR agency, as well as freelancing for a German online business finance and recruitment publication.

Richard Silk works as a financial journalist specialising in private equity and renewable energy, Lorenzo Spoerry works for business and financial information specialists SNL Financial, and Judit Szilak returned to Hungary to finish her master's degree, where she has been contributing to the prestigious online news site index.hu.

Finishing at the same time were Luca Rosso and Claudia Suarez-Gonalez from the 9m Sep 2009 course, who both gained positions with Global Blue, Luca as an assistant digital production editor and Claudia as a project manager.

From the 6M January class, Peter Firth undertook an internship with the lifestyle news network LS:N Global, before securing a staff writer's job there.

From the 9M Jan 2010 course, Simone Martufi returned Cape Town where she started writing for an online site coaching people about getting jobs on cruise liners. She has since been commissioned to write an e-book on the subject, as well as becoming online co-ordinator for a youth entertainment website and securing a Thursday slot on an online radio station dealing with youth issues.

Of the 3M Sep 2010 class, Steve Dew-Jones started work for a council-run paper before it closed, briefly working for a trio of B2B magazines in the healthcare industry before moving to Incisive Media, where he writes about finance technology. From the same class, Eleonora Corsini works in Florence, promoting the European Robert F Kennedy Journalism awards at the RFK Centre there.

LSJ CLASS OF 2009

With cutbacks and layoffs being announced across the industry, 2009 was a tough year for anyone trying to launch their media career.

From the 3M January students, Muriel Oatham gained a maternity cover position as staff writer for Fund Strategy magazine and Johanna McWeeney completed an extended work experience placement for International Live Music Magazine, as well as contributing freelance items to Music Teacher and Classical Music magazines.

Of the 3M April students, Laura Saunter followed up the course with internships in the fashion departments of thelondonpaper, Daily Express, Daily Rubbish (for London Fashion Week) and The Guardian, while Pippa Woodhead interned at Banipal, a magazine of modern Arabic literature and the Mail online, and Marta Karcz pursued her interest in food journalism with an internship at The Restaurant Magazine, a trade publication based in Crawley.

Sandra Capitano returned to her job in Italy as area manager for an Italian film company, where she now writes features and a column for the film website filmakersmagazine.it and Michelle Davies has written food reviews for the website foodepedia. Victor Burnett is a communications manager for a renewable energy company.

Of the September 3M students, Claire Robinson is working for a Manchester PR firm, Ryan Bratcher joined the financial publication Euroweek as a trainee reporter and Charlie Walker joined the travel desk of the Daily Express, following a successful internship, prior to embarking on his epic 40,000-mile bicycle adventure around the world, starting in July 2010. See www.charliewalkerexplore.co.uk).

9M September students Claudia Gonzalez and Luca Rosso both completed internships at Global Blue which led to full-time posts, Claudia as a project manager and Luca as an assistant digital production editor.

The picture shows some of the 6M January class, who completed the course in July.

LSJ CLASS OF 2008

The worsening economic climate during the year made it a tough time for job hunters, but that didn't prevent many of the January three-monthers from making it into the workplace in record time.

Lucy Miles worked as a freelance in London before returning to her native New Zealand and Melissa Mahtani resumed her corporate communications broadcasting job at the end of the course, later moving to France 24 in Paris as a news producer. Osian ap Garth picked up a reporting job for an IT magazine, Craig McGlashan landed a reporting job with Adfero, later becoming a desk head there, before moving on to 2i Media, a finance website and magazine and becoming deputy editor of Global Securities Lending, while Ian Dunt was appointed online editor at politics.co.uk.

Giovanni Legorano (above, bottom) started work for Global Pensions magazine, part of Incisive Media, before returning to Milan to work for the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones newswires, while Anna Brown joined Newsquest in south London as a sub-editor, working on a range of titles from the Cheam head office and later becoming a senior sub there.

The nine-monthers who started at the same time (above, top) didn't finish until October, but that didn't stop Ros Donald from rapidly starting work as a reporter for Global Competition Review and Laura Aylett being appointed a press officer for the Royal College of Nursing.

Of the April three-monthers, Alexandra Bridgwater now works in beauty PR and Jaimie Kaffash was appointed deputy chief sub-editor of Public Finance magazine, while Anna Kuk is a reporter for the BBC Russian Service in Moscow. Jaimie later moved to Accountancy Age as a reporter before becoming a senior reporter/deputy news editor at the medical magazine Pulse, where he was later promoted to news editor. Emanuele Norsa returned to London from Italy in 2010 to become a business reporter for Steel Business Briefing, covering Spain, Portugal and Greece.

Of the January six-monthers, Colombe Verges followed in the footsteps of Osian ap Garth (above) and went to work for the Uxbridge-based trade publication IT Europa, while David Cardenas returned to Vienna to take up an internship with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Colombe moved from IT Europa in 2010 to work for a specialist publishing house in India, working on luxury arts and culture books, but said of her time at the fortnightly IT business publication: "The job is a journalist job, that involves writing news stories, interviews and features. It involves a lot of travel as well - in the last two years, I have been to Boston, San Francisco, New Orleans, Copenhagen, Milan, Brussels, Paris, Berlin, Prague and Stockholm.

"It is a great job for someone who wants to start in journalism, as it is a small editorial team (we're three journalists, including our editor), and so the job covers all the basic work of a journalist, from finding interesting ideas for stories, dealing with the PR side, building and maintaining good relationships with them and the people interviewed, interviewing plenty of main characters in the IT world, updating the website, laying out the pages on the written publication using In-Design." She has since moved to Brazil, where she is pursuing a freelance career in Sao Paulo.

The September three-monthers hit the jobs market just as the credit crunch began to bite in earnest, but Kayley Edwards got a job as a marketing writer with a data management company in Guildford and Samantha Leese turned an internship with Time Out in Hong Kong into a staff job, while Fred Palley interned with IPC media and worked as a freelance for sport.co.uk and mirrorfootball.co.uk before becoming deputy editor at The Exchange, UK editor for GX magazine and UK content and promotions manager for Sportingbet. 

Samantha stayed at Time Out for just under a year before going freelance at the end of 2009 when she was approached by CNN Travel to contribute to their website. Based in Hong Kong, she has had pieces published in Time, The Spectator and covers Asia-Pacific lifestyle stories for the agency AFP, as well as writing a books column for the fashion and lifestyle glossy Prestige and acting as features editor for Glass's magazine. In 2013 she was contemplating a Master of Fine Arts degree in Hong Kong and working with a literary agent on her first novel/short story collection.