The award-winning editor of a monthly community newspaper in Devon has died.
The funeral of John Gaffney, who ran the Ottery Gazette, was held last week after he suffered a fatal heart attack.
John, pictured left, was voted Citizen of the Year in 2014 by community organisations in the town of Ottery St Mary.
He edited the Gazette, described on its website as a “good, positive news” paper, from an office in the town centre.
Under his tenure it won the best overall category at the National Parish Magazines Awards in 2009, as well as best design in 2011.
Plans to demolish a former journalism training centre and build 72 flats in its place are set to be given the green light next week.
Minalloy House, pictured below, was the former base for the University of Sheffield’s journalism faculty but the department has now relocated to alternative premises.
HTFP reported in March that the Hostombe Group had applied to Sheffield City Council to knock down the building and build 85 flats over eight storeys.
But the plans have now been scaled back to ensure the building fits in with its surroundings and have been recommended for approval by the authority at a meeting on 7 July.
The proposals include 69 studios, three one-bedroom apartments and one two-bedroom apartments over seven storeys.
The existing basement of the former journalism centre will be retained in the development to provide bin storage and bike and car parking accommodation.
The best journalism students at a university have been given awards at a special ceremony.
Falmouth University has honoured the best journalism students with their own version of the Pulitzers – the Falitzers – held at the town’s Maritime Museum.
Winners were given trophies, cash prizes and work placements at a various media outlets, including local newspapers, a radio station and FHM magazine.
The Falmouth Packet reported that Rebecca Hand was named the Student Journalist of the Year, while the Falitzers Star award was presented to Corey Richards, editor of student magazine Flex.
Other winners included Sam Moore for best feature, Natalie Roberts for best news story and Stephanie Toms for best blog.
Said Rebecca: “I was really surprised that I won as there are so many talented journalists on my course. It’s a lovely feeling to know that all my hard work was rewarded and didn’t go unnoticed. My future plans are a couple of internships, then hopefully a move to London.”
The winners of the Falitzers awards are pictured.
Advertising production work at regional publisher Johnston Press will continue to be carried out in India, it has been announced.
Delhi-based Express KCS has been reselected to continue the transformation of the publisher’s ad production, with the aim of moving it to an all-digital workflow.
Under the plans, workflow management system MediaFerry will be integrated with ad creation and distribution platforms to allow adverts to be reviewed and proofed quicker.
The advertising creation work was outsourced by Johnston Press in 2012 with the loss of around 60-70 jobs.
Chris Sanderson, operations and customer support director at JP, said: “In terms of advertising production, Johnston Press has a vision of total digital transformation.
“We are committed to providing outcomes that meet the needs of our advertisers. Express KCS’s solution consolidates and automates the ad creation and trafficking process and allows us to produce better-designed ads efficiently.”
A series of special lectures aimed at the next generation of journalists is set to be held by Edinburgh Napier University.
The lecture series, to be held from 8-10 July, will feature correspondents and filmmakers from around the world and is titled ‘Future-proofing your global media career’.
The event is aimed at everyone who wants to learn about 21st century media trends and skills.
Conference organiser Rachel Younger, programme leader of the Masters in International Journalism for Media Professionals, said: “What aspiring reporters and documentary filmmakers want most of all is practical advice on navigating the challenging economic realities of 21st century journalism.”
The lectures will be held in the Lindsay Stewart lecture theatre and will cover subjects including how to become a ‘journopreneur’, how reporters can expand their skills across different platforms and how to sell their work around the globe.
For further details about the event, click here.
A regional magazine has published a list of the 200 greatest people in its county to mark its 200th edition.
Cumbria Life featured a list of the 200 Greatest Cumbrians for its 200th issue in June, along with a guide of the 200 best places to eat in the county.
The feature on the top Cumbrians looked at the people who had most influenced life in Cumbria across the years the magazine had been published.
These included Robin Burgess, chief executive of the CN Group which publishes Cumbria Life, who will step down from the role next January.
The monthly lifestyle magazine was launched as a quarterly title in 1988, before going bi-monthly two years later and then monthly in 2008.
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