The March 2008 NCE news interview continued the web-first policy introduced last year and asked candidates to write an online story that would appear within two hours of them being briefed.

Candidates again found no problems with this format, a fact borne out by the positive pass rate, and it is a testament to editors around the country who are obviously grooming their trainees to write for both print and the web.

The story was about the early morning theft of lead flashing from the roof of St Andrew's Church in Cappham.

Candidates spoke to the church vicar (minister if in Scotland) and wrote 400-word stories to appear on the website of the Cappham Courier.

While the medium of publication was for the web, the exam was still designed to test the core skills of interviewing, note-taking and news writing.

The brief provided basic information from a press appeal on the local police website asking for help in finding the thieves, plus background information from the UK Police website about the theft of scrap metal from a variety of buildings and venues across the country.

Further updates and sorting out appropriate web links were to be carried out by the newsdesk.

Candidates were required to interview the vicar (minister if in Scotland) Andy Clark (if a woman, Andrea) and get enough information to write a vigorous and well balanced story.

The core angle was clearly the theft of lead flashing from the roof of St Andrew's Church which had happened only hours earlier at around 5am.

There were a number of different lines the candidate could take in addition to the theft.

There was the obvious line about the cost of the lead that had been stolen and the financial implications of the repairs.

Some candidates picked up on a strong quote given by the vicar (minister if in Scotland) about the theft being an 'abomination' and used this as the thrust of the intro.

There was another strong line as one of the three thieves had fallen from the roof and had left a 'pool of blood' at the scene.

Examiners were happy to reward all these angles provided they were well supported by a strong story structure, but the few candidates who chose a more hackneyed 'police are searching for…' angle were not viewed in a positive light.

Some candidates used a different angle in conjunction with the core angle of the theft: • the vicar (minister if in Scotland) said services and community groups using the church would be disrupted because forecast rain would get into the body of the building • the vicar (minister if in Scotland) was also proposing a two-mile protest march and a candle-lit vigil to 'demonstrate the power of good versus the evil actions of the criminals'.

Whatever approach was taken, it was important the angle was well supported.

Examiners penalised candidates who, for instance, used the march and vigil in the intro but then did not make any further reference to them until the final part of the story.

There was a timing issue in writing the story.

Some candidates used phrases like 'the theft happened at 5am' but did not give the exact day.

Examiners preferred stories that were more precise but did not penalise the less exact approach.

Examiners were conscious that some newspaper websites display the time and date that stories are uploaded and so less precise stories were given the benefit of the doubt.

This was a straightforward story and therefore a high level of detail was required.

Examiners were looking for a brief summary that captured the drama of the theft and the discovery of a ladder, a pool of blood and broken slates.

Descriptions of the three thieves were available along with the van used to take away the stolen lead.

Most candidates achieved this but those who did not were penalised accordingly.

Examiners were looking for at least three strong quotes and rewarded those candidates who used them to add pace and rhythm to their stories.

A good shorthand note is required to be a good interviewer but minor variations in quotes were not penalised.

Good interview technique is the foundation on which all stories are built – whether writing for a weekly, a daily or hourly on the web – and that is the test of this exam.

Although the interview itself is not assessed, a good technique will invariably result in a better story and there were many examples of this.

Overall, markers were looking for stories with a strong intro using dynamic verbs and adjectives, a key quote early in the story followed by an organised, logical approach which included a mix of accurate quotes and reported speech.

There were plenty of these stories and examiners applaud the candidates, and their trainers and editors, for meeting the challenge.

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