Ground-breaking project runs for third year in a row

Glasgow Clyde College journalism students are again working on an award-winning project with market leaders Media Scotland, owners of the Daily Record and Sunday Mail, supported by leading railway contractor QTS.

Media Scotland will print 9,500 copies of our second year HND journalism students’ graded unit magazine and distribute copies within their hugely successful regional paper, The Paisley Daily Express on Thursday, 29 March.

This is the third year the project will run – 2016’s publication went on to win commendation at the national NCTJ awards for Best Student Project while last year’s edition won Student Publication of the Year at the Scottish Student Journalism Awards.

This year the magazine, previously just known as Clyde Outside, will have the title ‘Clyde Outside presents The Pattern’, with the focus being on a celebration of culture in Paisley.

As last year, the students’ stories will be published online on the Daily Record website and readers will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite story over the Easter break.

A presentation ceremony, for the students with the winning editorial and advertising pieces as well as a new judges’ choice award, will be held in Media Scotland’s Central Quay boardroom in May – where prizes will include engraved trophies and work experience opportunities.

Helena Morrow, sales director for Media Scotland’s regional titles, said: “I am looking forward to another year of seeing our vision of creating a strong environment in which we could mentor and motivate students to realise their hopes and aspirations in the world of journalism and publishing.”

Paisley Daily Express editor, Gavin McInally, said: “Everyone at the paper is, once again, delighted to be involved with the Clyde Outside supplement.

“I am personally excited to see the Renfrewshire-focused content of the project, which I believe will add genuine value for our readers.

“I look forward to the challenge of judging excellent news and features, written by promising students.” 

Phyllis McLeish, Commercial Director of QTS, said: “We have really enjoyed working alongside the students of Clyde College to help them generate some interesting and insightful content for the Clyde Outside magazine.

“We welcomed the students to our head office and they spent time interviewing some of our staff around three key focuses that are relevant within the rail industry, including women in rail, the engineering skills gap in the rail sector and developing the young workforce.

“I was pleased to see the enthusiasm displayed by the group through their visit and that some of the male students took on the opportunity to explore the topic of women in rail, a subject that is close to my heart. I hope it helped them to hone the fundamental skills they will need to utilise when they join the world of work.”

Glasgow Clyde College journalism lecturer, Karen Bale, said: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to once again work with Media Scotland and QTS, the opportunities provided to our students are incredible and we are so grateful this project has continued for a third year.

“The students have been working so hard on the magazine and we can’t wait to see it published. This year the magazine will only be distributed in Paisley as the focus will be on celebrating the town’s culture.

“Although we have kept the Clyde Outside brand, this year the magazine will be ‘Clyde Outside presents ‘The Pattern’ – allowing the students to focus on all things Paisley.

“They have been working so hard on this project, on both the magazine and the website. I’m delighted with the passion they have for the magazine and the huge effort they have put into ensuring this is a success.

"None of this would be possible without the support of QTS and Media Scotland, we can't thank them enough."