NEWS
22/3/12
It's been all go this month. The Winter crew met their deadline for Seaside Business with minutes to spare. They're now on placement.
Jobs are coming in from past PMAers. In fact the parents of the first PMA baby, Polly May A (now 14), have two jobs for the current crop... writing and social media for an international pest control title.
Mike Butcher is spearheading the membership of our private Facebook group.
And the application deadline is looming for the summer course... so get your apps in soon!
3/2/12
It's freezing outside, but a hothouse of frenzy inside PMA Towers. Time is flying by and this winter's team is looking and sounding more and more professional by the day. The tutors are giving them the thumbs up for diligence, intelligence and overcoming the odd story not turning out quite how they would want it.
Jobs are coming in and HR people are perking up at the thought of hiring a ready-made rounded multimedia journo.
26/1/12
Chris Brook-Carter popped in at lunchtime to say hello. He is about to take up the post of Editor-in-Chief with Retail Week, Emap. He graduated from PMA in Summer 1998 and went on to carve out a good career with Aroq Publishing. One of his protegés, Katie Smith, is currently taking the Winter course. Small world.
25/1/12
Some excellent news... Becky Waller-Davies started as junior reporter on Greenbuild magazine, part of Hamerville, this week. So that's all the postgrads from the last course in getting good jobs in the teeth of a tough couple of years.
The current PGs are working on the launch of their magazine. They are getting some good feature and news stories. More will be revealed nearer to the launch date.
14/1/12
Phew! The first Winter 2012 week has flown by. The group is getting to grips with the pace of the course and finding out about each other. They will grow in confidence as they realise they are learning from their mistakes (they will be making a few more yet....).
9/1/12
It's day one of the Winter course and the group are settling in to discover the little treats we have in store for them. The newspapers have arrived, the coffee pot is topped up and the quizzes and tests have begun!
19/12/11
Lottie's GOT A JOB!!
Lottie Linter, who has been working at Cath Kidston as a paid press and PR assistant since the summer course ended, has just had a great Christmas present – a full-time job as web content assistant.
She wrote: “The press team wanted to keep me on, but I applied for another job that came up internally and got it!
“I had every skill they wanted from me (feature writing, SEO, HTML, copywriting, proofreading...), as a result of PMA. So thank you!”
6/12/11
Two former PMA alumni have set up in business together, specialising in all forms of PR, marketing and media for companies in the sports, outdoor and related sectors. Alistair Phillips and John Kitchiner attended our postgraduate course in magazine journalism in the summer of 1992 and went on to be editors of various sports and outdoor titles. “We’ve stayed friends ever since, and it somehow made sense to work together,” Alistair said.
“We reckon that we cover all the bases, from consumer magazines and B2B publishing, high-profile websites and national newspapers, picking up several prestigious awards along the way. We’ve also run major publishing brands and led teams at the biggest media houses in the world. This should be a great test of our friendship!”
The company, Spindrift, can be found at www.spindrift101.com
5/12/11
Mike Butcher, TechCrunch Europe, is a social phenomenon. Recently he's been to Buckingham Palace to meet the Royals... and then I spotted him in consultation with the Prime Minister. Where to next?
1/12/11
Sent out an email shot from Prospects today. So if you're one of our new visitors... welcome to PMA. Thomas Hobbs from the last course has just secured a job on Growth Business, part of Vitesse Media in Old Street. Well done Tom. And tonight we have a reunion of the class of Winter 2011. They are gathering to celebrate being winners of the PTC's New Digital Concept Magazine 2011. And to scrutinise the print magazine that pipped their magazine Festival Business to the post ... Poppy ... Looking forward to their comments on that one!
28/11/11
Two former PMA graduates have just got married. David Quainton, who took the postgraduate course in 2004 and is now editor of the lifestyle magazine PA Life, has wed Gemma O’Reilly, who took the course a year later. Gemma is now online editor at Third Sector.
The wedding took place in the New Forest and they are honeymooning in Antigua.
There’s clearly something romantic about PMA’s nine-week course: this is the sixth marriage of former graduates!
By the way.. we're now full for the Winter course. If you want to apply for the Summer course, we're interviewing from next week.
21/11/11
We have one last place on the Winter course because one person has had to defer. It's not too late to get that application in now. We have extended the deadline to this Friday 25 November. Please let us know if you are going to apply, so we can schedule an interview. Call Riva on 020 7383 5800.
14/11/11
Applying for this course online? There has been an upload glitch with older versions of Internet Explorer, so please use Firefox or Safari if you want to avoid the frustration of losing the application. The webby man is looking into this for us!
4/11/11
We're hosting the NCTJ exams today. You may think it odd we don't offer these exams. There's a good reason for that. For instance... one of the NCTJ candidates from the Oxford Mail said it took him 18 months to produce a folder of stories for his assessment. Our students produce twice that amount in six weeks. The NCTJ reporting exams are made up stories that everyone has to write so that examiners can compare their work. Our lot take exams or tests most days of the course based on real life news and stories. We know what editors prefer to see.
2/11/11
Interviewing today for the Winter course. It's a thorough process, but we have to be sure all candidates can cope with the speed and intensity of this learning process. The new video (up soon) will prove that the course works if you work on getting to grips with all the skills a multimedia journalist needs. That's why this Summer's postgrads found good jobs so fast.
30/10/11
Last-minute Halloween baking tips from Sammi Edwards who started her new job at British Baker last week: http://bit.ly/t9lz03
Her editor tweeted about how chuffed he is with her video efforts. She learned her lessons well. And she's a great writer too.
25/10/11
Just discovered another former PMA-er Tim Jonze. He's now Editor of guardian.co.uk/music
He changed the spelling of his surname, but we tracked him down. He wrote for NME for many years and has broken some great stories in his time as a music journalist.
22/10/11
Tonight's X Factor sought PMA-er Nicola Methven's views on quiet contestant Sophie Habibis. Nicola, the showbiz editor of the Daily Mirror, told viewers that Sophie has more personality than we've seen yet on screen. Let's wait and see.
20/10/11
STOP PRESS..... PMA's Winter 2011 group wins the PTC's prestigious NEW DIGITAL MAGAZINE CONCEPT for www.festivalbusiness.co.uk It was the outright winner. It was launched in March 2011 and was immediately followed up by the media (including Radio 5Live) and business interests involved in the Festival Business. This demonstrates that PMA's students are well-prepared for the multi-media world of journalism.
17/10/11
Another job opportunity came in today — looking for a PMAer. This happens most days of the week. And the only way to find out about these jobs is via our alumni group. Editors and MDs trust us to find the right person for their position.
There's still time to apply for the Winter course... and there's still space for those with the drive and passion to complete this intensive course.
13/10/11
The summer postgrads have had brilliant success in getting themselves into well-paid journalism jobs. It's hard to believe that barely three months ago they were complete novices. See the blog on this page for their comments. So if you're considering applying for the course in January, please hurry as the places are being snapped up fast. The PMA course really is the quickest way to getting your dream career up and running.
13/10/11
We're launching an elite postgraduate programme for Indian students to come to study in London. This will run for 12 weeks from October 2012.
9/10/11
Press Gazette has been debating whether university journalism degrees offer value-for-money... even the accredited ones. Student comments conclude that the majority sadly don't. Students want a course that prepares them for a job in today's tough and changing world of journalism. We recognised this 23 years ago, and that's what we've been delivering ever since for our PMAers.
29/9/11
Two of the summer's intake now have new jobs. Well done to Melodie Michel who is a reporter on Meat Trades Journal, William Reed and Ploy Radford who is a reporter on the soon-to-be-launched title PA Life, published by One to One Media.
7/9/11
It's been exams all day every day this week... but the Summer 2011 team remain positive if a little trepidatious. Next stop is getting that job. Several have secured second interviews, so we're hopeful. And on graduation day we have some editors coming along with recruitment possibilities in mind.
18/8/11
Panic in the press room? Not this summer's postgrads
The weeks have flown by. It's press day at PMA. And a quiet frenzy has landed on the press room. They're an organised bunch, working together to solve the odd problem. They have learnt their lessons well from Ron, Keith, Dan, Dan, Richard and Roberta ... can't wait to read their 24-page B2B magazine... High Street Business.
17/7/11
The Apprentice — PMA's Alumni are Lord Sugar's expert advisers
Good to see Will Drew on last week's restaurant task advising Lord Sugar on who should win. Will is now editor of Restaurant Magazine. He knows his TexMex from his MyPys.
And Mike Butcher of TechCrunch Europe was the adviser in the App episode. Apparently we didn't get to see the better ideas, but that's TV editing for you.
15/7/11
Pennie from the Winter group already has a press trip lined up to China and Hong Kong. She's loving her new job which only started a few weeks ago. Getting some great entry level jobs through too.
11/7/11
The new team are really knuckling under... we have great expectations for this group.
23/6/11
Two more Winter 2011 postgrads have been snapped up. Ben is now news reporter for New Energy World Network, and Pennie is on to a bright start as editorial assistant at Lux lighting magazine. Well done guys!
2/5/11
Congratulations to Damien who has just been offered the job as web reporter on an international brewing title. This combines two of his favourite past-times — travel and drinking beer!
20/4/11
Sonali HIndmarch is to be ITN's editor for their Royal Wedding Channel. Watch out for her on 29 April.
14/4/11
Five postgrads now have jobs. Simon starts with TGI Media on Monday and Abi started with GP Magazine this week. The rest are busy setting up and attending interviews.
It only took them nine weeks to gain all the skills and confidence to get a job... If you're prepared to work really hard, you could do it too. There's still time to apply for the summer course, but hurry, we're filling up fast.
6/4/11
Three jobs have been secured so far by the Winter 2011 alumni. Nadirah is news reporting and feature writing for PR Week. Tobias is a sub-edit for Eurofruit, Asiafruit and Americafruit and is also feature-writing for Eurofruit. And Gemma is a reporter for Caterer and Hotelkeeper. Watch this space as more are cherry-picked by the industry.
There is still time to apply for the summer course, though we're filling up fast. We're careful who we select as the team has to thrive in the hot-house atmosphere... Career-changers do particularly well because they keep the balance and focus for those with a little less life experience.
22/3/11
Try this SPELLING TEST for starters.... and no cheating:
The impressarios idyosincracy was a mischivious act playing a ukallelle and pretending he had diarea.
The fledgling postgrads are busy chasing down those first jobs. It's still a tough market but they are already finding success. They gave some brilliant feedback, and we'll be posting their graduation day video shortly.
8/3/11
The PTC spent the day with us today for our re-accreditation visit (we have to prove our course is worthy of their kite mark every two years). And yes, we passed with flying colours. That's 23 years with their approval rating.
22/1/11
It was THE SPELLING TEST day today. Keith bet the postgrads a bottle of champagne for each group of three that got five mistakes or fewer. The best any group did was 20, the worst 102!!!
Think you can do it without cheating? Maybe we'll put a bit of it up later.
20/1/11
Cameras at the ready. Shooting video for news and views is a highlight of this course. Everyone came back with good material from Camden Market. If you're looking for characters to interview, this is the place to go. Looking forward to see how they edit their gems tomorrow.
18/1/11 The pace hots up
They never believe how intense the course will be, but they do now. They were thrown into online journalism today. And they are loving the fact they are learning so much so fast. Tomorrow a postgrad from the early 1990s who is based in Hong Kong and works with a large contract publisher is coming along. The course has changed enormously since then, but in many ways it's still the same — a really intense kick-start to a career in journalism.
14/1/11 New Winter postgrads up and running
We're off to a flying start with 15 eager postgrads gathering news from all over London. They're blogging away telling you like it is — warts and all! And yes, we do work weekends... much the same as most journalists.
23/11/10 PMA postgrads nominated at PTC New Journalist of the Year Awards
Two PMA postgrads have been nominated in the New Business News Journalist category. We wish Sarah Townsend (Regeneration and Renewal) and Kaye Wiggins (Third Sector) the very best of luck.
"The PTC New Journalist of the Year Awards 2010 will be presented at a glamorous afternoon ceremony held at Vinopolis on London's South Bank on Friday 26 November 2010. More than 250 people, including the best of the industry's emerging talent and top names from across the magazine industry will come together to reward and celebrate the achievements of new journalists." (www.ptcnewjournalist.com)
More information: http://www.ptcnewjournalist.com
09/11/10 Two PMA-ers have been shortlisted for the British Society of Magazine Editors' Awards
Emma Maier - Editor of Emap's Local Government Chronicle nominated for FIONA MACPHERSON NEW EDITOR OF THE YEAR - BUSINESS Award
Sian Harrington - Editor of Haymarket's HR Magazine nominated for EDITOR OF THE YEAR - BUSINESS & PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINES (non-weekly) Award
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01/11/10 Another two of our summer postgrads snap up jobs
Congratulations to Natasha Devan for securing an Editor role at Mark Allen Group. Also, well done to Amit Katwala, who has just started as International Property Reporter on Overseas Property Professional.
