Warwick student website shortlisted for award

The Student Journals (TSJ), an online magazine created by Warwick University students, has been shortlisted for the Guardian Student Media Awards 2011.

Founded and edited by Warwick student Siraj Datoo, TSJ celebrated its first birthday on Thursday October 27 this year after being nominated for Website of the Year. Other nominees for this award include websites from the universities of Oxford, Southampton, Birmingham and Liverpool. However, TSJ differentiates itself by not being exclusive to Warwick University.

The Student Journals is an online magazine constantly updated with new articles relevant to student interests. The idea behind the online magazine is that articles can be submitted by any student in the country. With the recent addition of TSJ Global, launched on the magazine’s anniversary, TSJ is now publishing articles from students worldwide. This new development is one of many that the magazine is planning to launch to increase its reach and sphere of influence.

The TSJ Advisors Scheme is one such development. The Student Journals now have four professional journalists who provide feedback on submitted articles to help improve the skills of up and coming writers. These include former student Jonathan Haynes, the News Editor of guardian.co.uk. Another example of its development is TSJ Youth, which allows those who are not yet old enough for university to share a platform with university students. According to Datoo, who is delighted with TSJ’s successes, this is only the beginning of the website’s development.

“We hope to soon release a quarterly magazine online, giving a different viewing platform and hope that we can eventually give off printed copies to students at universities across the country,” Datoo stated. “All I can say is that the future of TSJ is exciting and we’re still in the initial stages of our growth!” This idea of a platform is one that drives the website and its offshoots. Datoo elaborated that “up until now, students have not had an outlet from which to voice their opinion on such a large scale. TSJ revolutionises that. While student newspapers will continue to represent students for generations to come, there is nowhere [else] students can go to share their thoughts with universities across the nation.”

Datoo, a French with International Studies student currently on his year abroad, also noted how being at Warwick University had influenced him. “I feel that being a Warwick student has helped TSJ grow so quickly. There are an incredible number of societies at Warwick but each exec member shows so much drive and passion to make their own one stand out and make it the best it possibly can. I have taken the same attitude to TSJ to ensure that the platform can improve, develop and be a worthy platform for students.”

Datoo is not the only student at Warwick that is involved with the magazine. Several students interested in becoming journalists or demonstrating their writing skills and opinions to a wider audience have submitted articles to TSJ.

“I’d just started working for the Boar and thought it would be a good way to put my name about in a different way,” explained Jordan Bishop, a regular contributor to TSJ, having discovered it through an advert on the Warwick Students’ Union website. “The advantage of writing for TSJ is that it is aimed at a national audience, rather than specific to a university. It means [your] work gets wider circulation and a greater range of response.”

The staff at The Student Journals are very proud of the website’s success, and are keen to improve upon the over 76,000 hits that the website received in its first year.

“By no means did I feel that we would find ourselves shortlisted for the Guardian Student Media Awards this time last year,” Datoo said. “Achieving a place in the final 5 for Website of the Year is a great achievement for us. Such recognition has only helped us to evolve and has spurred us to improve even further.” This recognition would only increase if the website were to be victorious at the awards ceremony in November.

Past winners include Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland and Andrew Rawnsley, author of two books on New Labour, broadcaster and Observer journalist, demonstrating the successes these awards can propel young journalists towards.