An international award for online journalism is open for entries with a first prize of €2,000 up for grabs.

The Digital Heretics Journalism Award accepts entries in either text, audio, animation, video or photos.

The prize scheme is part of the International Journalism Festival which is being held from 21 to 25 April in Italy.

All submissions must have been published in between 1 January 2009 and 31 January 2010. Full details can be found at ijf10.org.

Stephen Pearse, senior campaigns officer with the National Union of Journalists, is leaving the union today to work in Brussels.

It means that the campaigns and communications office will have no full-time permanent staff following the recent departure of Miles Barter.

Interim cover is expected to be provided as the NUJ continues its recruitment process for both positions – details of which can be found at nuj.org.

Former Lancashire Telegraph deputy sports editor Andy Neild has teamed up with his former colleague in a new PR role.

Andy covered sport, and principally Premiership team Blackburn Rovers FC, for the Newsquest daily for eight years.

He moved into PR 18 months ago and now joins former Telegraph sports reporter Tony Garner at VIVA PR, where he is managing director, and will be based in Rossendale.

Torcuil Crichton, UK political correspondent for the Glasgow-based Herald newspaper, is taking up a new post with the Daily Record at the end of January.

He will be the Trinity Mirror daily’s Westminster editor, bringing to an end almost two decades with The Herald.

The University of Strathclyde in Glasgow has appointed a former Northern Irish newspaper editor as its new director of marketing and development.

Tom Collins OBE was editor of The Irish News after which he spent 11 years with Queen’s University, in Belfast, where he was director of marketing, recruitment and communications. He is joining the Scottish institute in April.