Hey guys! Hopefully you have recovered from trying to say the title to my journal – if anyone can send me audio proof of them saying it ten times straight I will mark a million of their essays. Anyway, this year I am studying a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism)/International Studies at University of Technology Sydney! The course is five years and six if I decide to do a one-year post-grad in Sports Journalism.
Why Journalism?As a dedicated humanities student in the HSC, writing is pretty much all I know. But my interest in journalism came from a far more enjoyable source. I have grown up supporting Rugby League for pretty much all of my life and have envied the reporters for Fox Sports who have the dream job of travelling to and reporting at games across the nation. I honestly could not imagine any better way to earn money. Regrettably, Sports Journalism in itself is a very niche area to gain a full time career in and, if I am being completely honest, my obsession with the NRL means that I am pretty much only truly passionate about writing and reporting on it in particular. Most sports journalists are past players and experts who have in-depth knowledge of the game and their names themselves are often even more important than their writing ability as their sporting identity attracts viewers. It makes sense, but I did not want to completely give up. So I began to do what any good journalist does – write! I currently write pieces for TheRoar.com.au and LeagueUnlimited.com. I compose under the pseudonym of Mr. X for The Roar. You can check out all my articles here:
http://www.theroar.com.au/author/penrith-punter/ and there should be one more added tomorrow morning so stay tuned! I also volunteer as a writer and live blogger of matches for League Unlimited (my articles can be found here
http://leagueunlimited.com/author/show/andrew-jackson)
Work experience is the most important aspect of success in the journalism industry in my opinion and both these opportunities have afforded me with fantastic chances to work under tight deadlines at composing articles varying from match previews and reports to opinion pieces (which includes also dealing with some very opinionated users on the websites!) Last year, I was also lucky enough to do one week work experience at Big League, the NRL’s official magazine! This was honestly one of the best weeks of my life. I walked in and literally one of the writers was on the phone just having a casual conversation with a first-grade player. It was insane! I learned all the details and planning that goes into publishing a magazine and was even published in that week’s edition (Mum proceeded to go out and pretty much buy all available copies!)
Despite the level of enjoyment I receive from my Rugby League writing, I have recently realised the need to broaden my work opportunities, hence the choice to study Journalism rather than specifically Sports Journalism.
Why International Studies?Firstly, this is also a chance to broaden my employment potential as it is always a bonus to have another language and understanding of another culture up your sleeve. However, it is primarily motivated by my desire to continue my passion for French that I formulated at school. I actually intended to study Italian in Year 7 but the class was full, so I was (luckily) stuck with French – the best disappointment of my schooling life! My teacher was incredible – she was so passionate and also enjoyed a fair share of friendly banter (some of which is a bit too inappropriate to post on here!) But I honestly just enjoyed learning another language. Maybe it was because I was going back to the basics like simply knowing the difference between past and present tense. Nevertheless, I knew I simply did not want to lose my French after studying it for six years. Plus, in the fourth year of my degree I get to go on exchange and I seriously can’t wait to visit the French-speaking section of Switzerland. Plus, the Alps aren’t too shabby either.
So hopefully now you have a better insight into my future studies and aspirations! I plan to post all my online articles on this journal as well as any internships that come up. I have applied for one at Sydney University AFL Club, the Western Weekender and the Parramatta Eels recently so fingers crossed I can update you guys soon on that! In the mean time, I am heading to the office of The Roar in March to start an internship with them and am definitely keen to gain as much experience as possible! Until next time, get keen for my article that will posted on The Roar tomorrow! Even if you aren’t a league fan, give it a read and maybe you will learn something new!