First-year undergraduate Jude Wood (2024, Modern Languages) has won this year’s Paul McClean Prize for Journalism, receiving a prize of £600 to support his journalistic ambitions.
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. Paul was pursuing a career in journalism as part of the Financial Times graduate trainee programme at the time of his death. During his time at LMH, he played an active role in student journalism, notably as Deputy Editor of Cherwell.
This year’s prize was judged by alumni Merlin Fulcher (2005, History), who writes for The Architect’s Journal, and Katie Scott(1999, English Language and Literature), a freelance journalist.
Merlin said of Jude’s entry: “Jude’s writing is clear and insightful, blending intellectual curiosity with clear factual analysis. His submissions for this year’s prize were a joy to read. His article ‘What kind of a world do we really live in?’ for The Oxford Student offers a particularly cogent, clear and compelling investigation into the overall state of contemporary politics. Jude clearly has a bright career ahead of him in journalism and I hope his powerful writing serves both as a reminder of Paul McClean’s own achievements and an inspiration to many others.”
Katie noted that Jude’s work displayed: “Superb analysis, tackling three very complex (and emotive) topics.” She expressed that she: “Loved all of the questions in the piece about plutocracies, which prompt the reader to start really interrogating their own thoughts on this subject; and how much they are simply accepting as the new normal.”
Jude already has plans for how he will use the prize money: “At the moment, I’m starting a literary magazine with a couple of friends at LMH called Garble Mag and I’m using some of the money to fund my share of payments for our website and hopefully to get some print editions out in the future. I haven’t yet decided what I want to use the remainder of the money for - although, I have been accepted to do a micro-internship over the summer, writing articles remotely for a company called LinguaTute, as a way to continue developing my writing outside of term time.”
We would like to thank this year’s prize judges for generously giving their time, and all those who contributed to the Paul McClean Prize fund, helping to continue Paul’s journalistic legacy at LMH.
