The UK’s biggest regional daily is launching an apprenticeships scheme to train the next generation of newshounds.

The Express & Star, the current regional daily newspaper of the year, is seeking five apprentices to join its team with a mixture of on-the-job training as well as attendance at college once a week.

Successful applicants will focus on four key newsroom skills – namely news reporting, sports reporting, digital journalism and creative design.

The creative design element will involve working alongside the editorial artist to learn about page design, graphics and use of Photoshop, while the sports journalism element will include filing match reports and coverage of grassroots sports.

The 18-month course will also involve using multimedia platforms to gather and break news as well as gaining essential reporting skills.

For one day a week the five apprentices will attend City of Wolverhampton College and will work towards the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism Practice.

Express & Star editor Keith Harrison said: “There is a national drive to tackle youth unemployment and promote the use of apprenticeships and the Express & Star is keen to play a prominent role in that.

“We have found a great partner in Wolverhampton College which has lined up a fantastic training programme for the apprentices to provide the Express & Star with fully qualified multi-platform journalists.”