I would like to nominate Matthew Charles of the Medwire for the category of NUS Student Journalist of the Year as I passionately believe he is the only student worthy of taking such a title. Matt joined the Medwire early this year as a guest contributor and his dedication and passion for providing high quality student media has already propelled him to one of the highest positions in the company - Deputy Editor. To say that Matt lives and breathes the Medwire would be an understatement; not a day goes by where he has not covered a story, subbed other people’s copy or worked on some other area of the operation.

Even putting aside his position as deputy editor Matt has shown outstanding prowess as a journalist. His stories and investigations have proven to be not only highly relevant to the student population, but have also earned him wider audiences in both the local and national press. His interview with Professor Alex Stevens about the decriminalisation of cannabis (http://www.themedwire.co.uk/2012/10/25/growing-cannabis-in-your-home-should-not-be-illegal/ ) was picked up by the Daily Mail and quickly became their most viewed and debated article that day (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2225438/Growing-cannabis-home-criminal-offence.html) for example, and his investigation into the practice of illegal drag racing by young people in the Medway towns was later covered by local news service the Kent Messenger(http://www.scribd.com/doc/130326232/the-Medwire-March-Edition-2013 ). This story was also an exclusive, beating both the BBC and ITV in finding and publishing the story. Both of these pieces are highly representative of his work; Matt thoroughly investigates compelling issues highly relevant to a student population and the way in which his stories are continually taken on by larger outlets is a testament to the high quality and compelling nature of his work.

He has also been instrumental in the Medwire’s attempts to engage students with the union and properly understand its function, something which is recognised as a key issue on the Medway campus where students are members of both their own union and UMSA and voter engagement is typically lower than at main campuses. He has worked closely with all three unions involved to provide a running coverage of the changes which will see UMSA disband this year, in an easy to read, understandable format. He also was one of three staff members who worked on a feature about the Medway student experience for the latest magazine (http://www.scribd.com/doc/130326232/the-Medwire-March-Edition-2013 ) and I have little doubt that most of the understanding from students about the way our unions work is down to Matt’s dedicated coverage.

He has also followed other key stories in the hope of making a difference to both the student population and wider community in general. In the past month, for example, Matt has been covering the disappearance of 19 year old soldier, Josh Thomas, to help raise awareness of the search for him. He showed great tact in dealing with people who were close friends of Josh as well as a high level of journalistic competence in his constant relations with the police force to ensure that he only published verifiable, as well as, up to date information.

Matt has built up good working relationships with local MPs and councillors, who are now more than happy to comment on our stories and provide valuable insight. He also conducted the first interview with the Chief of Kent police since 2008, providing another outstanding exclusive and also helping with our aim of engaging students in the local area. Having lived in Medway all his life this is something he has particularly shone at, having a first hand knowledge of the issues surrounding young people in the area and how they affect students.

Aside from his role as prominent team reporter Matt has also played a key role in the furthering of the Medwire. He assists in all aspects, from subbing stories at 3am in the morning to delegating and managing junior writers who may often forget to write what they’ve offered to do as well as accounting and selling advertising. His dedication has been a massive help, especially to myself as head of the Medwire, and I genuinely believe I would have been unable to run the company successfully without the sheer dedication he has shown over the past academic year.

It would be unfair to say that Matt merely assists in his role as deputy editor; he has also been a driving force in helping us move forward and progress. This year he introduced a style guide for all writers to abide by helping to increase support for junior staff as well as maintain quality of our output at all times. He also understands the value of creating lots of valuable content for our student audience and has played a key role in ensuring original content is uploaded to the site every day and the introduction of multimedia content to accompany stories. Currently he is developing ideas for the redesign of our website over summer as well as the launch of a mobile app for better viewing of our website on the go.

I feel it is also worth pointing out that Matt’s dedication to the Medwire is even more extraordinary taking into account he studies a degree which runs from 9 – 5 every day of the week and also has a part time job at a local bar. For these reasons, I truly believe that Matthew Charles is the only real candidate for NCTJ Student Reporter of the Year.