Finding great off-diary stories has helped win a prestigious award for a postgraduate student from De Montfort University in Leicester.

Twenty-three-year-old Terry Hill was named the district reporter of the year and picked up a £100 cheque sponsored by the Leicester Mercury.

His prize was the culmination of the NCTJ-accredited course where all the students produce weekly news pages with real stories that mirror the Mercury’s own district patches.

Senior journalism lecturer John Dilley said: “District reporting is all about learning the value of eyes and ears journalism. Terry rose to the challenge and really pushed himself out of the comfort zone.”

Terry loved the pressure of the real-world reporting work.

He said: “I learnt a hell of a lot in a pretty short space of time and it gave me an insight into the day-to-day work of a real journalist, working with real deadlines as well as providing an excellent opportunity to source and develop original story ideas and build a portfolio of useful contacts.”

The students worked in small teams which promoted a variety of skills including teamwork and news editing.

Terry added: “I really liked working as a team as well as the gathering of stories. It was great to swap ideas and opinions which went towards producing a newspaper every week.”

This is the fourth year the Mercury has sponsored the award.

John said: “We’re really grateful for the paper’s continued support – not just with the award but through help in providing work placements.”

The award was presented by Mercury deputy editor Richard Bettsworth.

Five other students were shortlisted for the award – Siobhan Prideaux, Tracey Davies, Thais Parvez, Ben Aulakh and Mark Goode.