Third-year Multimedia Journalism student, David Applin, has won this year's IRN Student Journalist of the Year award, supported by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council and Sky News.

The awards celebrate the achievements of news and sport student journalists in UK commercial radio in a wide range of categories including news reading, reporting, campaigns and interviews. The nominations were announced by Sky News presenter Anna Jones ahead of a special video ceremony on Thursday 15th July at which the winners and the recipient of the IRN Gold Award were revealed.

The judges commended David for his documentary ‘Inside the Dark Web’, describing the piece as “an outstanding piece of journalism that takes the listener on a compelling and sinister journey from the outset”.

Multimedia Journalism (MMJ) Programme Director, Aletta Harrison, said: “David was up against some extremely tough competition, which really does reflect how impressive his piece of work is. We are incredibly proud of this fantastic achievement and hope that it inspires students across our course, and the whole university.”

David thanked the Multimedia Journalism team at Christ Church for their support.

“I’m so pleased with this result," he said.

"Coming out on top of such strong competition with a piece made during the struggles of Covid restrictions is the perfect way to finish my journey here at Christ Church.” 

“Thank you to all of the brilliant MMJ Team for the support and guidance they have provided over the past three years, it has been amazing.”

Listen to David’s documentary here.