Sixteen trainee journalists have qualified as seniors after a lower pass rate was recorded following the last sitting of the National Qualification in Journalism in its current format.

A total of 28 candidates sat the examinations in March meaning an overall pass rate of 57pc was recorded, compared to a 76pc pass rate in the November 2018 sitting.

This was the last sitting of the NQJ before it is replaced by the level 6 NQJ, which has been developed following an industry wide review and will be sat for the first time in July.

The new exams will include a two-hour media law and ethics in practice exam and a new practical, skills-based exam, called the big news story, which replaces the news interview and news report exams.

All of March’s candidates passed the e-logbook section of the NQJ, marking the sixth 100pc pass rate for the section since July 2017.

There was a pass rate of 78pc in the media law and practice exam while the news report exam had an overall pass rate of 57pc, down from 78 per cent in the November exams.

There was an overall pass rate of 63pc in the news interview exam.

The full list of successful candidates in November was follows:

Megan Baynes, Isle of Wight County Press
Ellena Cruse, Ilford Recorder
Ciaran Duggan, Lancashire Telegraph
Samuel Ferguson, South Wales Argus
Suzanne Kendrick, NWN Media
Amanda Kennedy, DNG Media
Tom Kershaw, Selby Times
David Lynch, Western Telegraph
Maxine McArthur, Glasgow Evening Times
Andrew McQuarrie, The Shetland Times
Tomos Povey, South Wales Argus
Tim Redigolo, Northampton Chronicle & Echo
Thomas Seaward, Swindon Advertiser
Harry Taylor, Ham & High
Katie Williams, Dorset Echo
Thomas Williams, Oxford Mail

The first sitting of the new assessments will take place on Friday 5 July, and the closing date for enrolment is Friday 24 May.