Entries Open for 2025 Paul McClean Prize for Journalism

The Paul McClean Prize for Journalism awards up to £600 per year to undergraduate students at LMH with an interest in a career in journalism, to enable them to further their journalistic ambitions. For example, the Prize might allow a student to take up an internship opportunity, cover the cost of a relevant course, or pay for accommodation costs while working for a student newspaper outside of term-time. The award is usually given to one student each year, but it may be split between two if both are equally eligible.

The prize was established in memory of LMH alumnus Paul McClean (2011, French) who, after graduating with a First, tragically passed away in September 2017 in Sri Lanka. Paul was pursuing a career in journalism as part of the Financial Times’s graduate trainee programme at the time of his death, and he played an active role in student journalism during his time at LMH, notably as Deputy Editor of the Cherwell. He also completed internships with the BBC and the Guardian. Paul was posthumously nominated for awards including New Journalist of the Year at the British Journalism Awards (2017) and Young Journalist of the Year at the National Press Awards (2017). As an indicator of how highly esteemed he was by his colleagues, the FT renamed their graduate scheme, the Paul McClean Graduate Trainee Programme, in his honour.

The Paul McClean prize at LMH aims to support budding student journalists at the College who, like Paul, want to seize every opportunity they can to hone their talent and develop their career. Paul generously enjoyed sharing his expertise with others and would, no doubt, have been keen to mentor future generations of LMH journalists over the years. 

If you would like to apply for the Paul McClean Prize for Journalism, please make a written application via this online form by 5pm on Sunday 23 March 2025. The prize is open to LMH undergraduate students only.

You will need to provide a written account (no more than 500 words) of how you intend to use the award, along with details of possible costs. Applicants will also need to submit at least three examples of their journalistic work (instructions for this can be found on the form). 

Applications will be reviewed by a judging panel made up of LMH alumni working in the field of journalism, and the winner/s will be notified by Friday 25 April 2025.

When judging the prize, preference will be given to those applicants: 

• who do not have access to other sources of funds, or who might not qualify for other College grants 
• whose work has a focus on investigative journalism 

On receipt of the award and completion of the course/internship, the recipient will be asked to write a brief report outlining what the prize was used for, to be shared with those who supported the prize. This may also be used for College publications, such as the website, Brown Book or LMH News.