Five budding journalists have been awarded bursaries to allow them to complete training courses.

The Journalism Diversity Fund has awarded grants to Laura Cronk, Sophie McCoid, Liam Moffett, Andreas Mullings and Lamiat Sabin so they can take part in courses accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists.

The aspiring journalists will now complete courses at Lambeth College, Press Association Training in Newcastle, Leeds Trinity University College and News Associates.

They were awarded the bursaries after interviews with a panel of media professionals including Jayne Atherton, business and personal finance editor at Metro UK, Dave Betts, senior home news editor at Sky News, Roger Kasper, editor at the Sevenoaks Chronicle and Geoff Martin, editor at the Hampstead and Highgate Express.

The fund was set up by the NCTJ to help students from socially and ethnically diverse backgrounds and can help them with the cost of course fees and living expenses.

Applications for the next round of bursaries are now open for entries. For further information, click here.