An editorial artist with the Hull Daily Mail is within touching distance of a place in the final of a national singing competition.

Jenna Scottow, left, has already beaten 10,000 hopefuls to reach the regional finals of Open Mic UK 2009 in the 18-24-year-old category.

Now the 24-year-old has entered the public vote phase with the top two in each category receiving an entry to the final.

Voting is due to end at noon on Wednesday 11 November. The organisers are offering £25,000 of prizes and a recording contract to the winner.

A free lecture is being held at Lancaster University next week by one of Australia’s leading war correspondents.

Despite being only 23, Sophie McNeill has already reported from Iraq, Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Gaza and has received numerous Australian media awards.

The lecture starts at 6pm on 15 October in the management school lecture theatre.

Anyone wishing to attend is advised to arrive early – for more information email [email protected].

A conference on privacy, defamation and the media is being held in London next month.

Topics up for discussion include the case of a New York blogger whose identity was revealed by Google following a court order, resulting in a $15m lawsuit against the search engine.

Also on the agenda are family courts, libel tourism and the evolution of privacy law.

The conference is on 19 November – for more details email [email protected] or call 0207 347 3573.

Former Press Association and Times photographer Andrew Parsons has been hired as the Conservative Party’s full-time snapper.

Andrew has already taken some well-known photos of David Cameron and will provide behind-the-scenes shots of the Tory leader to the media.

He will also be shooting other senior Conservative ministers in the run-up to next year’s general election.

A new centre for journalism students is to be opened by The Princess Royal later this month.

The £35m centre at Highbury College, Portsmouth, will house state-of-the-art training facilities for vocational courses including media and journalism, art and design, automotive and engineering, hair and beauty, fashion, computing and animal care.

Princess Anne will unveil a commemorative plaque to officially open the new campus on 22 October.