It’s been a year of success for Johnston Press trainee Laura Edwards. She’s won one award, been shortlisted for two others and scooped the nation on one of the biggest stories of the year.

Laura’s achievements have come at an early stage in her career as at just 21 years old, she has been a reporter for less than two years, joining the Luton Herald and Post in December 2000.

After finishing her A-levels, Laura (pictured) found herself in limbo – although she knew that she wanted a career in journalism, she also knew that going to university to study for a degree wasn’t for her and didn’t know what other options were available.

In September 1999 she did some work experience on her local newspaper, the Herald and Post in Luton, and staff there suggested she do an NCTJ course.

In January 2000 she moved to Sheffield to study a one-year NCTJ Journalism course, while regularly returning to the Herald and Post for work experience.

In October that year a trainee vacancy became available at the paper and the job was kept open for Laura until December when she finished her course.

She had been on the paper for around four months when the paper was contacted by the husband of Diane Pretty, who said that the couple would like to talk to the paper.

Laura said: “When we went round to see them Diane wasn’t very well, so they asked if we would come back.

“A month later I called them and we had a long chat – they didn’t know anything about euthanasia, they just knew that Diane wanted help to die.”

Over the next few months Laura followed the case closely and even travelled to Strasbourg when the case went to the European Court of Human Rights.

Laura said: “It was good to be able to follow it all the way – I felt like a fish out of water being there with all the nationals!

“I got on well with the couple and it was very sad when she died.”

However, when Laura wrote her original story, she had been surprised to find that the national papers didn’t want to know.

She said: “The couple were keen to get coverage and they knew they had to get the nationals involved, so I contacted some newspapers but they weren’t interested, no one wanted it.

“It wasn’t until later, when the couple wrote a letter to the Prime Minister, that they picked up on it. Then we had people from as far away as Germany ringing the Herald and Post trying to contact the couple.”

Laura’s coverage of the ‘right to die’ story has now been recognised with a top award, and last month she was named Johnston Press Trainee Journalist of the Year.

Laura said: “I don’t know how that happened. My editor called me into his office and told me I had won and I said ‘are you sure?’ – I didn’t even know I had been entered.”

And her success was followed up earlier this month when she was highly commended in the best news journalist on a free weekly newspaper category at the Newspaper Society’s Weekly Newspaper Awards – her second Newspaper Society title after she was chosen as a runner-up in the feature writing category at the same event last year.

Now she is hoping that her run of success will continue as she nervously awaits her NCE results.

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