For the past 8 months, I've been taking part in the Young Reporter scheme, which is why this article exists. It's been an enjoyable experience, and I've had the opportunity to write some fabulous articles across this two thirds of a year. So, to summarise my experience, I'm going to talk about my experience writing these articles for my undoubtably massive fanbase. Also, I ran out of ideas and this final article is due tommorow, so...
To start off on a positive note, this has certainly been a very unique opportunity. Not many people my age get the chance to write for a reputable news website, so this is definitely very special. It was very enjoyable watching my articles occasionally climb the leaderboard in the website's most read, competing around those written by professional journalists. Furthermore, journalism is a very interesting line of work, and it's been great to experience it to see whether I enjoy it or not.
However, it's all sunshine and rainbows here in the dark, shady world of journalism. After all, there's a reason it's called a scheme. Considering all you're getting, the £50 entry fee may be a little bit steep, even though my school kinda did pay for me. I didn't really receieve any criticism or help from the people running the scheme, so it was really just me writing 8 articles and posting them.
The major issue I observed from this scheme, especially which I saw in my friends who were participating alongside me was that 8 months is a really long time. Especially for people my age. Whilst writing one article per month is far from a big ask, consistantly uploading and finding the motivation to maintain the high standard of quality you want for your reader can be difficult. For a some, it was just an opportunity that they signed up for without thinking in September and slowly became tired of as the months slowly rolled by.
That being said, I have really enjoyed my time spent here writing for this outlet. If time turned back, of course I would participate again. That being said, I doubt I would have enough inspiration to keep producing interesting articles for another 8 months. Well, thank you for reading my articles, and I hope they brought you some happiness into your life.
Peace out ✌✌✌
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