Football writer Phil Buckingham is enjoying the assignment of a lifetime as he follows Hull City on their pre-season tour.

The Hull Daily Mail hack joined the Tigers on a pre-season training camp in Bormio, northern Italy, for a week.

He has now headed east to report on Hull City’s games in the Barclays Asia Premier League Trophy, in China, where the team will join up with Tottenham, West Ham and Beijing Guoan this week.

The Northcliffe title enjoyed a sales boost last season as fans received extensive coverage of Hull City’s first ever season in the top division of English football.

Northern Echo editor Peter Barron is getting all nostalgic on his blog.

The recent 40th anniversary of the moon landing has inspired him to look back at the Echo 50 years ago.

Among the gems he’s discovered include the Paymaster-General Reginald Maudling telling Parliament the prospects for coal mining are not as gloomy as suggested.

Another focused on the imminent closure of a iron works – visit Peter’s blog for a regular trip down memory lane.

The Birmingham Mail is hosting its inaugural Football Legends Charity Dinner on September 17.

Midlands footballing masters such as Cyrille Regis and Brian Little are among 14 players who have already signed up to the event.

Proceeds will go to the Birmingham Mail Charity Trust which provides grants of between £500 and £2,000 to community groups.

More details are available on Mail editor Steve Dyson’s blog.

There is still time for students and trainee journalists to enter the second annual Excellence in Journalism Awards.

Run by the National Council for the Training of Journalists, there are five prize categories: news, sport, best scoop, features and photographer.

Awards will be handed to students on an NCTJ-accredited course and reporters with less than two years of work experience.

Work must have been published between 1 September 2008 and 31 July 2009.

They are free to enter and the deadline is September 4 – for more details visit nctjawards.com.

Winners will be invited to the Society of Editors conference on 16 November to pick up their awards.

The National Union of Journalists’ assistant organiser in Scotland is retiring from the post.

After eight years with union, Jim McNally is leaving next month but plans to continue being involved in NUJ activities in combating workplace stress, All Media Scotland reports.