Journalists and students are set to be honoured by the National Council for the Training of Journalists after another record-breaking year for its annual awards schem .

The NCTJ has announced the shortlist for its Awards for Excellence 2018, which will be handed out at next month’s Journalism Skills Conference.

The industry training body received a total of 329 entries, beating a previous best set last year, with a total of 52 students, trainees, apprentices, journalists and course providers being shortlisted.

All shortlisted entrants and their guests are invited to attend a gala dinner and awards ceremony at Quendon Hall, in Essex, on Thursday 29 November.

The winners will announced at the ceremony, which will be hosted by Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford, who was unveiled last week as the NCTJ’s first ever patron after being nominated in a survey of working journalists.

The full shortlist is as follows:

News Journalism (Student)
Jessica Cripps, News Associates London
Rianna Croxford, Press Association Training
Laura FitzPatrick, News Associates Manchester

News Journalism (Trainee)
Isabella Cipirska, Worthing Herald
Olivia Tobin, Croydon Advertiser and Evening Standard
Bronwen Weatherby, Bristol Post

Sports Journalism (Student)
Liam Grace, Bournemouth University
Matt Horsman, St Mary’s University
Josh Jones, News Associates London
Oscar Lynch, News Associates Manchester

Sports Journalism (Trainee)
Jordan Davies, The Sun
Richard Dore, Sportsbeat
Joseph Nicholson, Johnston Press (Sunderland Echo, Shields Gazette and Hartlepool Mail)

Top Scoop (Student)
Charlotte Gibbons, The City of Liverpool College
Joseph Wallen, News Associates London
Kate Wilsea, Press Association Training

Top Scoop (Trainee)
Imogen Braddick, Saffron Walden Reporter
James Carr, Lowestoft Journal and Eastern Daily Press
Amy Gibbons, East Anglian Daily Times and Ipswich Star

Features Award (Student)
Isabel Eidhamar, University of Kent
Hannah Tomes, University of Sheffield
James Williams, University of Lincoln

Features Award (Trainee)
Conor Gogarty, Gloucestershire Live
Will Hayward, Wales Online and Western Mail
Anna Lewis, Media Wales

Multimedia Story/Campaign of the Year (Student)
Carmella Haswell, Bournemouth University
Lewis Lesbirel, Bournemouth University
Daniel Sansom, Bournemouth University

Multimedia Story/Campaign of the Year (Student)
Alasdair Hooper, Essex Live
Aaron Walawalker, Ilford Recorder
Bronwen Weatherby, Bristol Post

Best Student Project
Harlow Harrier, Harlow College
Team Brit – On the Road to Recovery, University of Kent
The Search for Black Blood, University of Kent

Apprentice of the Year
Yusaf Akbar, BBC West Midlands (City of Wolverhampton College)
Megan Baynes, Isle of Wight County Press (Highbury College)
Jessica Frank-Keyes, Eastern Daily Press (Press Association Training)
Lucy Starkie, Newsquest Cumbria (Darlington College)

Student of the Year
Nicholas Friend, St Mary’s University
Gemma Joyce, Brighton Journalist Works
Abbie Llewelyn, News Associates London
Vicky Munro, News Associates London
Abbas Panjwani, News Associates London
Peter Rogers, Press Association Training

Trainee of the Year
JP Asher, Eastern Daily Press
Ned Bristow, Northwich News
James Butler, Worthing Herald

Innovation of the Year
Highbury College
News Associates Manchester
University of Brighton

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award
Daragh Minogue, programme director for MA sports journalism at St Mary’s University
Press Association Training
Abbie Scott, deputy managing editor at Financial Times

Chairman’s Award
To be announced on the night