Our Education Licence for schools allows teachers all over the UK to copy published content for their teaching, which in turn allows us to pay royalties to authors, publishers and visual artists. As such, we like taking the chance to encourage digital and print skills in talented young people, who will go on to be the next leaders of the UK’s strong creative industries.
We kicked off the day with a variety of workshops around Stationers’ Hall in central London, the setting of the event. I headed up CLA’s workshop on ‘What is Copyright?’, which was intended to give the students an understanding of the basic concept of what copyright is and how it works. To keep things moving, we finished up with a quick quiz on a few interesting copyright cases so students had the chance to apply what they’d just learnt and a glimpse into the weird and wonderful world of copyright.
After a busy morning of workshops, everyone was ready for lunch! It was a great chance to get to know the young people in attendance, who came from a variety of backgrounds and schools. I was deeply impressed by how seriously these students took their magazines, with articles ranging from the refugee crisis to gender and sexuality. All of the students I spoke to were extremely passionate and thoughtful, telling me about their work with eloquence and sophistication.
In the afternoon, it was time for what we’d all been waiting for—the awards! Bill Bowkett, winner of the Shine Scholar Award last year, gave a speech about how winning affected him and his prize—a day at Associated Newspapers, shadowing Consulting Editor Liz Hunt—which provided him with practical experience of a career in journalism. After speaking to the students at lunch, I wasn’t surprised by the high quality of all the entries, but I knew the judges would have had their work cut out for them. Julie Murray, our Education Licences Manager, was part of the judging panel for Best Illustration and Artwork; she later informed me how astounded she was by the sheer skill shown in the pieces. Ultimately, however, there had to be a winner, and Victoria Chen from Dollar Academy took this award home.
CLA sponsored the Best Magazine Cover Award, and James Bennett, our Head of Rights and Licensing, took to the stage to present it. Ibstock Place School received the top prize for ‘The Wall’, which the judges commended for ‘an eye catching, brightly-coloured image and crisply-presented cover lines leading the reader inside.’ Mill Hill School was Highly Commended for ‘The Millhillian’.
Overall, it was a fantastic (if very, very warm) day! I can’t overstate enough how blown away I was by the quality of every entry and the maturity and passion of every student I spoke to. I feel confident that plenty of these students will be receiving royalties from CLA licences in the future!
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