A regional daily changed its masthead after being handed over to the young people of its city for the day

Last Friday’s edition of Gloucester daily The Citizen was largely written and edited by a group of 40 young people from across the city.

The group had previously devised a survey about exam stresses facing pupils and the pressure for university places which had been circulated to 40,000 secondary school children in the county.

The results generated a front page splash for Friday’s edition which appeared under the ‘Young Citizen’ masthead.

The young people involved in the project were part of G15, a partnership of all of the secondary schools in Gloucester City, Gloucestershire College, The Milestone School and the Pupil Referral Service.

As well as writing features about sport, arts, youth unemployment and education, they carried out interviews with writer Jilly Cooper and Lord Lieutenant Dame Janet Trotter.

Five school students were also due to interview Education Secretary Michael Gove in a video call last Thursday but he had to abandon this to answer questions in Parliament on his proposals to ditch GCSEs for a return to O-level style qualifications.

The initiative was part of The Citizen’s drive to promote and celebrate young people in the region, which also sees the newspaper badge stories with a special ‘Positive Young Citizens’ logo.

Editor Ian Mean said: “I believe that our young people in Gloucestershire deserve a voice of their own. I believe that their efforts, both in school and in their voluntary work, often go unnoticed. In the national press, they find little to increase their self-esteem.

“I believe, and I think our readers feel the same – that we need to celebrate our great young people, so I’m delighted that Friday’s edition belonged to young people from Gloucester schools – very much encouraged by their heads, teachers and support staff.

“Thank you to all those who took part and congratulations on a wonderful job.”

The project was sponsored by EDF Energy, Gloucestershire Quays, Gloucestershire College, Renishaw Plc, and Rickerbys Solicitors.