LOGBOOKS
- 180 candidates;
- 172 passed - 96 per cent

Only eight of the 180 candidates who submitted Logbooks this time managed to fail - a pass rate of 96 per cent, the highest so far. The 172 who passed demonstrated once again the wealth of young talent in our newsrooms and the diligence of trainers in ensuring that regular in-house assessments are taking place.

Of the eight who failed, only one did so because the standard of submitted copy was simply too poor to reach the minimum 60 per cent pass mark. The rest were rejected because of unacceptable presentation - missing pages, unendorsed cover sheets, cuttings with the wrong original copy.

The examiners are faintly astonished that there are still some trainees who leave compilation of the Logbook to the very last minute and end up failing to put it together properly. Candidates from Scotland are reminded that if they are unable to offer copy from fatal accident inquiries they must submit alternative material approved by the NCTJ: leaving the section blank is not acceptable.

Some of the 17 key tasks are still causing problems. Few candidates scored highly in the section inviting them to demonstrate their numeracy, and the poor quality of submissions in the writing-to-pictures section suggests that in many offices liaison between reporters and photographers is a rarity.

A revised version of the Logbook is now being issued to new trainees, incorporating a number of changes made in response to comments from editors and trainers. Two key tasks, reviews and sport, have been replaced by human interest and community, and an 18th section has been added in which candidates are invited to submit stories of their own choice, giving them the chance to include material they might find difficulty placing elsewhere. The number of marks allocated for presentation has been reduced from 15 per cent to 10 per cent to accommodate this extra key task. The Logbook introductory pages, assessment pages and key task cover sheets have been revised and simplified.

The examiners once again extend their thanks to all those working journalists who gave up their time to join the Logbook marking panels.

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