LOGBOOKS
- 182 candidates;
- 154 passed - 95 per cent

There were 156 Logbooks submitted for the first time and 148 of them (95 per cent) passed.

Six more were re-submitted after failing in April: this time all got through.

The high pass rate again reflected the hard work put in by candidates and their trainers in newspaper offices throughout the country, and the examiners were pleased to see that regular in-house assessments were taking place in the great majority of cases.

None of the eight who failed did so solely because their copy was deemed unsatisfactory.

All but one submitted Logbooks with essential elements missing.

In several cases there were no original handouts or press releases for key task one; in others original copy was lacking for one or more key tasks despite the examiners' often-reiterated insistence on seeing what candidates actually wrote, not what went into their papers after the subs had amended it.

One candidate left four of the key tasks blank, while others explained that they had changed jobs without having stories signed off by their previous employers and could not now go back to them for help.

In such cases the examiners expect candidates to find substitute stories.

Two candidates submitted original copy that did not match the accompanying cuttings.

One handed in a story that was far too short to be assessed.

Of those who passed, some lost marks for poor presentation – missing information, pages in the wrong order, inadequate descriptions of submissions.

Some key tasks continue to cause candidates problems.

Key task three (family events) is not a suitable category for hard news stories such as fatal accidents in which family involvement is merely incidental.

Submissions for key task six (public events) should be stories covering such events, not previews of what might (or might not) take place.

Submissions for key task 16 (major incidents) should be about incidents which have taken place in the candidate's own area, not secondhand follow-ups to events elsewhere.

The examiners were pleased to note that those candidates doing the revised version of the Logbook had no problem submitting suitable material for the new human interest, community and trainee's choice key tasks.

Candidates and trainers are urged to take note of the current guidelines on Logbook submission (available at www.nctj.com).

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