NCTJ Awards of Excellence 2011

Graduates win top NCTJ awards

Three graduates of Sheffield University’s Journalism Department have won prestigious awards presented to young journalists by the National Council for the Training of Journalists.

Rosie Taylor, Kate Proctor and Rob Setchell received their certificates from Fran Unsworth, BBC head of newsgathering and new president of the Society of Editors.

The chairman of the NCTJ, Kim Fletcher, paid tribute to the excellence of the winners and foresaw successful careers for all of them.

No other journalism school received as many awards as Sheffield.

Rosie Taylor won the premier award, Student Journalist of the Year. She is a graduate of the MA Print Journalism postgraduate course, and is now a news trainee at the Daily Mail, now on secondment to the Manchester Evening News.

Rosie also took her BA degree at Sheffield, in English and French. This is the latest in a string of awards. She was NUJ Student Journalist of the Year in 2010 and runner-up for the NUS student journalist award in the same year.

Kate Proctor, from the same course, was named NCTJ Trainee Feature Writer of the Year. She is now working for the Westmoreland Gazette in Kendal.

Interview: Abstract artist Paul Kenny.

Picture courtesy of Jack Hoult
Picture courtesy of Jack Hoult

Paul Kenny at Customs House, South Shields

ADMIRED as one of the country’s most important photographers, Berwick on Tweed based Paul Kenny’s abstract images of the Northumbrian coastline have become sought after artworks, collected by galleries and art dealers throughout the UK. THE JOURNAL speaks to the artist as he reflects on the region that has defined his career for more than 35 years.

It was in 1972, while still a fine art student at Newcastle Polytechnic that Paul Kenny first began to appreciate the wilderness of the Northumbrian coast-line. Catching the bus out of the city to spend a day walking along Cheswick sands, he remembers being struck by the vast emptiness and endless horizons that were so alien to his Salford upbringing. Taking out his camera he started to photograph sea-water and rocks in black and white – focusing in on the tiniest detail of beauty that he felt captured his weird and wonderful new playground. Now, more than thirty years on with work hanging in the Scottish National Gallery, National Photography Collection, the offices of Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank and a forthcoming solo show in London, Paul said he continues to be inspired by the Northumbrian landscape and still feels lucky to be able to call this place home.

“When I came to the north east from Salford I didn’t really know much about the coast and landscape was very unfamiliar, so different to the north-west where I grew up. I started to go on trips out to the sea and beaches and the roots to a lot of my work started then. Alnmouth, Druridge Bay, Cheswick, those trips as a student where I experienced the isolation and emptiness of the coast were very important,” said Paul, who turned 60 this year.

“I still go out two or three times a week to the same eight mile stretch of beach between Holy Island and Berwick. I’ll do some drawings for reference, picking up stuff I might want to use in an image later. I still find the place beautiful every day and like it even more when the weather’s really dramatic,” he said.

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Verso - Dulcet EP

More words for Triptik Records.

Listen to Verso's Dulcet EP here.

Papua New Guinea born producer Verso strikes hard with his debut solo record Dulcet –
delivering an epic blast of hip-hop carved from an old-school core.

Stuttering synths, sepia soul samples and a swollen bass heavy groove invade seven hot
tracks that re-invent a hallmarked genre with force.

Bumpin’s staccato outro tingles and bounces back to hip-hop’s Beat Generation while
lighter touch Wishes layers creamy female vocals over razor sharp type-writer percussion.

The record’s analogue production aesthetic leans heavily on the Juno 6 synthesiser and
MPC sampler for a nostalgic 1980s vibe that takes you back to hip-hop’s rawest of days.

There’s a nod to J Dilla and DJ Premier in inspiration, but Verso (aka 28-year-old Bert
Calderon) diverts to his own course bleaching a scant lyrical path, allowing the beats to do
the talking.

Dulcet is a marriage, of the old and the new, of vintage hip-hop beats with dub tinged
bass. It’s immediate head-nodding love with a smirk on its face.
Before going it alone Gateshead based Verso was a member of Newcastle hip-hop outfit

The 27 Club where he played saxophone and DJ’d alongside Triptik contemporary Mr
Blazey. He has also released work with Verbal Terrorists but Dulect is his first release as a
solo artist.

Mr Blazey: Slonality

Newcastle’s Triptik Records presents Mr Blazey’s Slonality – a simmering record of ambient hip-hop.

*Listen to Slonality

He’s been Newcastle’s best kept secret, but Mr Blazey is about to get the recognition he deserves with the release of his latest album on Triptik Records.

Anchored in sample-heavy hip-hop but delving through the prisms of electronica, sonic ambience and dub-step, Slonality is a record of blissed-out precision.

Heaton raised Rob Blazey, 24, reacts against a media frenzied world with 14 deliberately down-tempo and bass heavy tracks. Collaborations with Verbal Terrorists rapper Drop Dead Fred and Sqidlims sit seamlessly with warped electronica and layered vocal fragments.

Slonality is a dream-like, ever changing journey through the progressive hip-hop genre.

An esteemed multi-instrumentalist and producer, Mr Blazey has worked with Newcastle bands Mammal Club, Rob Heron & the Teapad Orchestra and Wellington Boot. He is also a member of Natural Selection, a local collective of DJs and producers pioneering the city’s left-field dance and hip-hop scene. After years as one of the Newcastle’s most sought after collaborators he’s finally getting the chance to showcase his talent as a solo artist.

Manager of Triptik Records, Tim Shaw, said: “I’m surprised that he’s remained undiscovered for this long – we’re proud to have him on the label for his second release. Slonality is an original and seamless hip-hop album and we can’t wait for people to hear it.”

Slonality will be available to buy from i-Tunes and Amazon from August 21.

*Listen to Slonality *Buy Slonality

Newcastle’s Triptik Records to release Joonipah’s debut EP Whupah.

ONE of the North-East’s hottest DJs is to release his debut EP on the boundary pushing Newcastle label Triptik Records.
Joonipah a.k.a Newcastle’s Johnny Pheathan will release Whupah on July 9 – a five track EP brimming with distinctive leftfield rhythms and garage tinged beats.
Still only 18-year-old, Joonipah has rapidly been making a name for himself across the region since his dubbed-out remix of Mr Blazey’s track September 17 turned into a web-smash.
Work with the North’s underground DJ collective Natural Selection followed and nine months later Joonipah is back with his own material, promising to push bass music to new levels.
Remixes by Chinaski and Triptik’s Tim Shaw ensure the release reads like a who’s who northern DJs and makes it a must for anyone who’s serious about essential electronic dance music.
Whupah is the first release for the newly re-launched Triptik Records, which venturing beyond its techno roots.
New manager Tim Shaw, 23, who also co-runs Newcastle club-night Inertia, said: “Triptik is now about presenting an eclectic range of electronic tracks from a wide range of genres. Joonipah was an obvious choice for our first release as he makes very good, contemporary sounding music. He is young and is bound to do well. I am pleased he is representing the label.”
Charged with fresh energy Triptik will be releasing four more tracks this year including new material from dubstep producer Jayou.
Joonipah’s debut EP Whupah’ – July 9 2011 on Triptik Records, exclusively via BeatPort.