Stephen Lucas has been named winner of the annual LGcommunications Prize for Young Journalists.

He received the £250 prize for what was judged to be the best local government paper submitted in the National Council for the Training of Journalists examinations last year.

Stephen attended the NCTJ pre-entry certificate in newspaper journalism course at Harlow College, Essex.

He is now a freelance reporter on the Ham & High newspaper in North London, and covers general news stories. He completed a work placement on the newspaper.

Stephen read English at York University. He lived and worked in China, America and Italy after leaving university.

Stephen said: “There are a lot of celebrities on the patch and they’re always fun to talk to. Uri Geller bent a spoon for me the other week.

“It was a big surprise to win the prize. I found the local government bit of the course quite tricky.”

Part 1 of the public affairs section of the NCTJ examinations is on local government.

The examination papers have a compulsory finance question and compulsory 12 ‘short-note’ questions, followed by a choice of two essay questions.

LG communications secretary Michael Baker said: “Stephen’s fluent writing style impressed me and others. It is good news for public relations professionals that young journalists like Stephen can write about local government with authority and confidence.”

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