In 2023, 21 of the 25 wins (that’s 84%) in the SPA awards were granted to publications or students attending a Russell Group university. This is a significant increase since 2019, when just 53% of the winners were Russell Group. In the last five years we were able to find data for, Russell Group universities have won an average of 72% of awards.
The SPA is a registered charity which represents student newspapers, magazines, and websites, and is the largest student media association in the UK
The Russell Group is a collection of 24 of the UK’s most privileged universities, described as “leading” and “research intensive” by the Russell Group website. Russell Group universities have a higher proportion of privileged students than non-Russell Group universities generally, as shown by data collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). In 2022, on average 91% of students at a UK university were from a state school, but 22 of the 24 Russell Group universities had fewer than average state school attendees. The University of Edinburgh has just 64.5% state school attendees.
The further disadvantages faced by non – Russell Group universities
In addition to inequalities in the results, there are also discrepancies between the people invited to judge the awards. The SPA team puts together shortlists from the pool of entries, and then invites industry professionals to select winners and highly commended from those lists.
In 2023, 11 of 28 judges were graduates of Russell Group universities. All 11 of those judges awarded their category wins to Russell Group universities, and 10/11 also gave their Highly Commended to Russell Group universities. Non-Russell Group judges gave 70% of their awards to Russell Group universities. This is significantly worse than 2019, when Russell Group judges gave 57% of wins and 71% of their highly commended to Russell Group universities.
As reported by journalism.co.uk, the most deprived young people are less likely to attend university and less likely to get into prestigious schools if they do. They are also more likely to drop out. The NCTJ’s annual Diversity in Journalism report showed that 72% of UK journalists come from professional and upper-class backgrounds, compared to just 44% of the UK workforce as a whole. This is an improvement on 2022, where the figure was 80%, but 2023’s decrease only brings figures back in line with 206 numbers rather than being a marked improvement.
The benefits of the SPA awards in an otherwise disadvantaged segment of the industry
The media industries in the UK have been described as “notoriously difficult to enter” by Prospects. The NCTJ report shows that the number of journalists under the age of 25 has dropped from 9% in 2022 to just 5% in 2023. This means that accolades such as winning a prestigious SPA award is an important boost to students vying for a place in a cutthroat job market. The value of extra-curriculars on a student’s CV is only likely to increase as the UK’s media industry tightens its belt. 2023 saw over 7,900 layoffs, according to the Press Gazette, with just 361 new jobs being created.
Exploring the data further shows that shortlists are also skewed heavily towards Russell Group universities. The Russell Group was host to 490,735 undergraduate students in 2021-2022, amounting to 24% of the UK’s undergraduate population. While not all UK universities have a student newspaper, magazine, or website, the number of Russell Group universities seeing success at the SPA awards, from shortlist places, highly commended, and wins, is disproportionate.
Brig has seen success in the SPA regional awards and has been the Best Newspaper in Scotland for three years in a row. However, despite being shortlisted in 10 categories in the national awards in 2023, we received just one Highly Commended award. The Saint from The University of St Andrews is the only other non-Russell Group university to receive over 8 short list places in 2023, coming away with two wins.
Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco, Editor in Chief of The Gaudie, said: “We’re grateful for the support, advocacy, and networking provided by the SPA. However, it is imperative that all student papers, regardless of the size or prestige of their university, receive equal consideration when it comes to awards.” He continued, “The SPA must explore why these disparities have occurred and how they can be rectified.”
A comment from the chair of the Student Publication Association
When reached for comment, the chair of the Student Publication AssociationMatt Ward-Perkins made the following statement:
“We absolutely share the concern that some groups are overrepresented in the media industry, and have a long history of doing our part to tackle that inequality. Our free training workshops and materials help all our members receive resources that would otherwise only be available to some, and for the last three years we have funded attendance at our annual conference for people from underrepresented backgrounds and run a mentoring scheme for those without connections in the industry.
“Our awards are open to all members, and are judged by independent media professionals. We actively encourage awards entries from student journalists from different backgrounds, experiences and institutions. Guidance on how to make entries stand out and online awards coaching is also offered to all members, but there is always more to do and we will continue to do all we can to tackle inequality in our industry.”
The UK is currently going through an unprecedented cost of living crisis. It is vital that the people most affected by this are part of the conversation in the media, but there are few working-class voices telling these stories. Diversity in the media is vital to a healthy democracy and the issue revealed by data about awards at one of the earliest entry points to the industry should not be ignored.
The data used in this article was not available anywhere and was sourced through scouring Twitter posts, blog posts, PDF brochures, and unlisted YouTube recordings of award ceremonies. The raw data can be found here.
This article was first published in Brig newspaper on 23 January 2024
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