''The Student Journals'' was an editorially independent online magazine for university students around the world, to give students a platform to voice their opinions. The site featured regular comment articles submitted on numerous topics, ranging from education and politics to culture and sport. They also feature interviews and cover many British events through live blogs. Since its founding, ''The Student Journals'' launched several diverging projects including the TSJ Advisors Scheme, whereby professional journalists give detailed feedback to commentators of the site, helping students to improve their writing. ''The Student Journals'' has been recognised through various awards, such as being named the Runner Up Website of the Year at the Guardian Student Media Awards in 2011. In the same year, it was voted the 25th best Group blog in the country and the 46th best Media blog in the UK. It was also featured as one of the best student publications of the month in Ones to Watch in September 2011.Taylor, Rosie
"Student Publication of the Month: September 2011"
''Ones To Watch'', 28 September 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2012.

History

''The Student Journals'' was founded in October 2010 by Siraj Datoo, a

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

student and the website's managing editor, with Ali Gokal, a friend from

Watford Grammar School for Boys Go Forward with Preparation , established = 1884 ( Single-sex) , type = partially selective academy , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Ian A. Cooksey , r_head_label = , ...

. Datoo claims to be inspired by the editor of ''

The Muslim News ''The Muslim News'' is a monthly and digital newspaper. Established by Ahmed J. Versi in February 1989, it has grown to become the largest monthly ethnic paper in the UK. It describes itself as, "The only independent monthly Muslim newspaper in ...

'', Ahmed Versi, founder of a newspaper for Muslims who did not have a political voice in Britain. Datoo also felt that students needed a platform to express their opinion without any editorial bias, where every student could write, regardless of their political opinion. With Gokal's support, they went about creating the website.

Aims

When they launched the site, Datoo and Gokal set three main aims (as outlined on the site): To give university students a platform to express their opinions on a national scale, to present students the opportunity to be involved in journalism at a higher level (through interviewing high-profile personalities and attending events to review music, theatre, books and films as de facto members of the press.) They also state that they want to develop a journalistic style and help budding writers achieve their potential. It is for this reason that every article that is submitted to the site receives detailed feedback. The TSJ Advisors Scheme also serves this purpose.

Awards and recognition

2013

Guardian Student Media Awards

''The Student Journals'' was named Website of the Year at the Guardian Student Media Awards after being shortlisted for the award for the second time in three years. One of the writers, Hana Alidina, from Smith College was shortlisted for the inaugural award in the category of "Student data interactive journalist of the year". Co-founder and managing editor Siraj Datoo was shortlisted for the "Digital Journalist of the Year" category.

2011

Guardian Student Media Awards and others

''The Student Journals'' was named the runner-up in the category of 'Website of the Year' at ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' Student Media Awards, who praised the overall concept, the breadth of articles and the high editorial standard. MyNewsBiz 2011 called ''The Student Journals'' "an idea with lots of potential and a great proof of concept" and was commended by the judges in their student journalism enterprise competition.

Total Politics Blog Awards 2011

In the Total Politics Blog Awards 2011, it was named the 25th best Group blog in the country and the 46th best Media blog. Many of those involved with The Student Journals were also recognized in these awards. The editor at the time, Siraj Datoo, was named the 23rd best media blogger in the UK, the Deputy Editor, Ali Gokal, was named the 25th best left-wing blogger in the country and press officer, Tash Clark, was also named the 42nd best media blogger in the country. A number of Commentators for the site were also featured in the awards, with Henry Hill being named the 8th best Conservative blogger and Jordan Bishop placing at number 34 in the list of best Non-Aligned bloggers in the country.

Exclusives

On 16 May 2011, The Student Journals reporter Sabine Saade broke the story that Ben Ali did not intend to abdicate, after the Independent's foreign correspondent Robert Fisk revealed it in an exclusive interview: "He wanted to drop off his family in Saudi Arabia and take the next plane to Tunisia at 7:30am but the crew that accompanied him to Riyadh flew back at 1.30 am without him."

Notable Interviews

The website has interviewed important personalities including the Director of

Amnesty International UK Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

, Kate Allen, Foreign Correspondent for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'',

Robert Fisk Robert Fisk (12 July 194630 October 2020) was a writer and journalist who held British and Irish citizenship. He was critical of United States foreign policy in the Middle East, and the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians. His stanc ...

and the editor of the '' Hurriyet Daily News'', Mustafa Akyol.

Projects

TSJ Advisors

''The Student Journals'' has launched several projects since its creation. Through the TSJ Advisors Scheme professional journalists edit articles for the website in order to help students becoming better journalists and improve their writing. Contributing journalists include Deputy Editor of the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'' Helen Lewis, News Editor of Guardian.co.uk Jonathan Haynes, Assistant Books editor of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

Sameer Rahim Sameer Rahim is a British literary journalist and novelist. He became Managing Editor (Arts and Books) at '' Prospect'' magazine, having previously worked at the ''London Review of Books'' and at ''The Daily Telegraph'', and his reviews of both fi ...

, and freelance journalist Dan Hancox.

TSJ Youth

TSJ Youth allows students not yet at university to write for the site, to give younger students the same platform. Each student writing for TSJ Youth is given a great deal of feedback and support from editors to help improve their writing.

TSJ Global

On the one-year anniversary of their launch, TSJ Global was launched, with the first article being written by

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

graduate Diptesh Soni. Students from around the world now write for the website.

Editors

* Amy Ashenden: January 2013 – present * Siraj Datoo: September 2012 – January 2013 * Jonny Goggs: June 2012 – October 2012 * Siraj Datoo: October 2010 – June 2012

Website down

''The Student Journals'' website has been down since June 2015 with no signs of starting up again. Its Twitter account has been inactive since December 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Student Journals 2010 establishments in the United Kingdom 2014 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Student magazines published in the United Kingdom Online magazines published in the United Kingdom Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 2010 Magazines disestablished in 2014