National Support for Student Media

A way to ensure that our student publications get the support they deserve for decades to come.

From my media background, I’ve always found it weird that there is a national body to support student radio stations and student television stations, but not one for student publications like the Wessex Scene, The Edge and the Soton Tab. At the start of this academic year, I started asking about this with editors around the country and found that dozens of them were yearning for this kind of national support that their media counterparts get… so we decided to do something about it.

6 months later, and we’re only 3 weeks away from a national conference for student publications, being hosted right here in Southampton. From Thursday 11th April to Saturday 13th, we aim to help publications share best practice, have writers learn from professionals in the industry, recognise some of the best student journalist successes across the country, and form a national committee that can take this forward in future years… the Student Publication Association (SPA).

If you’re interested in coming along with the WS, Edge or Tab, then you can find the Facebook event here and tickets are available to buy online until Wednesday 3rd April. Check out the brochure

This is also the first year that we’re holding an awards ceremony alongside the conference to celebrate the work of publications across the last year. You can check out all the details for the categories and even enter if you’d like.

To help make the conference a success, we’re looking for some Southampton students to be on the ground helping the conference to run. If you’re interested in being part of a games maker team, assisting speakers, guiding students from around the country, then email vpcomms@susu.org with the subject line – Conference helper. You’ll get a free t-shirt, food, and a chance to see the conference for free. Contact for more info.

You can follow all the action on twitter throughout the 3 days, just use the #StudentPublicationAssocationNationalConference… or #spanc for short.

Media Love

David G – VP Communications at SUSU.