Ten NCTJ students have been presented with awards for exceptional performance in the Diploma in Journalism exams.

Top-performing students across the UK were presented with their awards in front of their peers on Friday at the annual NCTJ Student Council hosted this year by News UK in London.

The award-winners, who each received a certificate and a cheque for £250, included Anna McNay, who was presented with the inaugural HoldtheFrontPage award for production journalism.

The website was among four new sponsors for the awards along with ITV News, the Mark Allen Group and Sky Sports News.

Anna McNay receives the HoldtheFrontPage award for production journalism from the website’s publisher Paul Linford.

Anna trained at Brighton Journalist Works where she scored a mark of 82pc in the production journalism module.

She is deputy editor at StateF22, a visual arts and photography magazine, as well as arts editor and writer at DIVA magazine and an editorial assistant for an Elsevier Linguistics Journal (Ampersand).

Anna also contributes to various print and online publications as a freelance and has taken up subbing to supplement her other work.

Said Anna: “I’m really pleased to win this award and it is evidence of the great teaching I received at Brighton Journalist Works”.

The full list of award winners was as follows:

Archant award for reporting: Caroline Christie, Lambeth College

Oxford University Press public affairs award: Charlie Taverner, Press Association Training, Newcastle

Oxford University Press media law award: Rachael Venables, University of Sheffield

Johnston Press court reporting award: James Forrest, City of Wolverhampton College

Society of Editors’ shorthand award (100 wpm): Daniel Woolfson, Brighton Journalist Works

Sky Sports News shorthand award (110/120 wpm): Koel Mukherjee, News Associates, London

HoldtheFrontPage production journalism award: Anna McNay, Brighton Journalist Works

Mark Allen Group business of magazines award: Amelia Tait, Lambeth College

Mustard TV videojournalism for online award: Sophie Merritt, University of Portsmouth

ITV News broadcast award: Victoria Polley, University of Kent