Promote your media talents

Are you a student journalist, reporter, photographer, editor, broadcaster or blogger?  Would you like some work experience at a major newspaper or a music magazine?  Then read on.

The Guardian Student Media Awards 2012 asks students to submit their entries to one or more of the categories below

• Publication of the Year
• Website of the Year (1 June deadline)
• Reporter of the Year
• Feature Writer of the Year
• Columnist of the Year
• Critic of the Year in association with NME
• Photographer of the Year
• Digital Journalist of the Year
• Broadcast Journalist of the Year.

There is an opportunity for every contributor to your publication or  station to win – so make sure you enter as many categories as possible.

However limited your resources, the experienced judging panel will recognise the kind of imagination and energy that will drive a successful career in media. Judges include media representatives from the Guardian, Channel 4 News and NME.

There are two deadlines to enter the competition:

Website of the Year - Friday 1 June 2012
All other categories - Friday 29 June 2012.

Winners will be awarded experience at the Guardian and NME.  The shortlist will be announced in the supplement MediaGuardian in September. The winners will be revealed at the awards ceremony in November.

For more information please see the website.

As well as networking, working on projects is a key thing to do to get into media careers.  If you do have such experience come to Careers in WG3 (Queens’ building) for advice about how to market it and if not visit us to gather ideas about getting relevant experience.  For more information about working in media see the Prospects website.

Enter Adzuna Graduate of the Year 2012 and win an internship

QM graduates (and those graduating this year) may be interested in the Adzuna Graduate of the Year 2012 competition.

Are you an outstanding student?

Do you excel in art, music, sport or an academic discipline? Or are you an effective student union member, leader, or social commentator?

Perhaps you have made an extra contribution to the university by being a representative for your course, the president of a student society or an active social campaigner for example? Then why not apply?

Competitions can be a great addition to a CV, helping you build up your experieince and stand out from the crowd.

Who are Adzuna?
Adzuna are a search engine for classified ads. They have teamed up with the brightest business minds and top companies in Britain to select and award top graduates of 2012.

Who can apply?
All recent or soon-to-be university graduates.

What could you win?
1. A one week placement with one of the leading companies in the UK including eBay, Sony and L’Oreal
2. CV mentoring
3. Combined salary and cash prize of up to £1000

How can you apply?
Visit http://www.adzuna.co.uk/jobs/graduate-of-the-year.html and fill in a short form to tell Adzuna why you deserve to win.

Deadline: 31 May 2012.

The winner will be selected on 1 July.

A career in tackling cyber crime

Have you ever considered a career in tackling Cyber Crime? If you have or even if you have not, Cyber Security Challenge UK are running a competition that will help you explore the complex and important issues that are prevalent in our modern technological society.

The positive benefits of information technology have been accompanied by the negative reality of cyber crime, crime that ranges from hacking to online fraud and identity theft. Whilst the levels of cyber security threats are increasing, fewer people are entering the cyber security industry.  Microsoft released Statistics that  suggest that in the next four years, the IT industry will create 78,000 jobs in the UK.  This has been contrasted by a 50% decline in young UK residents entering IT careers.

The Cyber Security Challenge aims to increase the amount of talented individuals who enter the Cyber Security Industry. Through their competition, they offer various opportunities to test your potential for secure software development, understanding of common vulnerabilities and communicating your knowledge. Entrants are rewarded for their hard work and enterprise with prizes that range from an iPAD 3 to a career developing internship at companies such as Price Waterhouse and Coopers and IRM.

So if you are a British Citizen considering a career in Cyber Security and study subjects such as IT, Computer Science or Engineering, don your virtual superhero gear and visit https://cybersecuritychallenge.org.uk/index.php to register for an amazing experience!’

Sunny Kalyana

2nd year QM English and Linguistics

Write the world – international development and journalism

Do you aspire to be a published journalist?
Are you interested in issues facing the developing world?
Do you want to write about such issues that are often neglected in the media?
Then enter the Guardian International Development Journalism Competition 2012.

How to enter
The competition has two strands.  One is for professional journalists and the other for amateurs including students.  The competition asks you to write a 650-1000 word article about any aspect of global poverty that you think needs more media attention.  Write your article and submit it by Thursday 3 May 2012.  For more information please see the competition website, Twitter and Facebook pages.

What you can win
At first, entries will be shortlisted to 40 and then the 16 best entries (eight amateur and eight professional) will be published online on the Guardian website.  Later the 16 finalists will be flown to Africa orAsia to research a new project.  This research will be published in two special Guardian newspaper supplements after the two winners are announced at a special award ceremony.

How this can help your career
A good record of relevant work experience is essential to getting a career in both journalism and international development.  As a writer, you will need to provide a portfolio of your written work and a portfolio which includes published work will be very highly regarded.  As a development worker, you will need to show your enthusiasm and knowledge of how the sector works and often this involves partnerships with bodies like the media.

Being a part of the research team in a new setting would allow you to enhance  useful skills for the workplace like communication, organisation and flexibility to name a few.

Even if you miss out on the final 16 it is a great way to practise your writing skills for either industry or making an entry shows a keen interest in news and current affairs.  Plus there are also media opportunities on campus you can get involved in.

Find out more about careers as a Newspaper journalist or International development worker and visit Careers in WG3 (Queens’ Building) for more advice.

Competitions- The new way to gain an internship, network and more!

Who would’ve thought the you can gain some work experience/Internships or network with professionals through winning a competition? Remember Employers love to see something different like winning a competition on CVs and applications. It shows that you’re enthusiastic and like challenges. Keep your eye open for competions all year round, but here’s a selection of what’s on offer at the moment:

Business:

• If you think you have what it takes to cut it in today’s business environment just enter Grant Thornton’s “Think it. Film it. POST it” competition and win a weekend trip for two to the Wireless Festival in London, dinner with Grant Thornton trainees, a dedicated careers coach and an iPad 2.      
  For more information go to: www.graduates.grant-thornton.co.uk

Law:

• How about answering some important law questions for the UKSC Blog essay competition, where the first prize of is a week’s work experience at the London office of city law firm Olswang and publication of the essay on the UKSC blog page www.ukscblog.com.
  Questions:
  1) What has been the most important Supreme Court case and why?
  OR
  2) Is the Supreme Court independent?Enter before 5pm on the 27^th February 2012 and email your 500-1000 word informal essay to editors@ukscblog.com with your name, contact details, university and course year.

• This month, Freshfields are offering students the chance to win tickets to the upcoming Olympic games, spend a day at their Paris office, and secure a place on their first ever development programme for first years!
  For more information on how to apply for each of these opportunities, see the ‘latest news’ section at: www.freshfields.com/uktrainees

Engineers:

• Finally engineers, how about entering a competition in partnership with Engineers Without Borders UK and Arup. Identify what makes a city resilient for your chance to win an internship with Arup International Development. Enter before 3^rd March 2012
  For more information on how to apply go to http://climate-resilient-cities.org/index.php

Competitions and Challenges to make your CV shine

Competitions are well worth doing. Employers love to see this sort of thing on your CV or Job Application. It shows real achievement as well as skills such as teamwork, project management, communication, organisation and analytical skills. It also proves that you are motivated and enthusiastic – basically everything an employer is looking for in an employee. If you haven’t had much work experience, this is a great way to boost your employability.

So why not sign up to one of the many exciting competitions which are on offer this year and gain some experience, have some competitive fun and be in for a chance to win one of the brilliant prizes on offer.

• Formula Student is an engineering competition where students build a formula one car. The Queen Mary team website is: http://www.queenmaryracer.co.uk/

• The Ultimate Field Trip is a UK-wide competition BP runs every year. BP are offering an amazing prize opportunity in their 2012 challenge and great experience for the future.

• CleanTech Challenge is a unique platform  where you can bring innovative clean technology ideas from the concept phase to realistically attracting ‘Series A’ funding .

• Win a £5000 departmental prize and £1250 team prize by answering RWE npower’s energy challenge question “What is the cost of your energy?”

• Loreal brandstorm are giving students an opportunity to become marketing brand managers in a unique marketing competition where they want you to imagine a new product line for an existing loreal brand.

New competitions are advertised all the time, so keep your eye open for the latest opportunities… we’ll be sure to let you know about them on this blog!

Are you the “Undergraduate of the Year”?

Target jobs are running their annual competition to find the best undergraduates of the year. There are loads of categories, including the award for “First Year of the Year” (which is open to all current second years), “Future leader of the year” and various subject specific awards, trying to find the best Engineering, Law, Business and Finance and Humanities students.

The prizes on offer are great. Trips abroad, paid internships and year long placements with a major firm and the opportunity to network with some of the top people in the sponsoring company.

So if you think you have achieved great things at Queen Mary, then apply at http://undergraduateoftheyear.com/ _

Undergraduate of the year – Add a little spark to your CV

How amazing would it be to win an award sponsored by various leading companies related to your degree! It doesn’t matter what you are studying, this is the chance for you to win one of the many undergraduate awards. It’s simple, you complete the first 2 stages which will take you around 2 hours and you could be shortlisted as one of the potential winners in the final stage! The awards are for students from all different areas of study and there’s even an award for being a first year student! Don’t miss out on this opportunity and add a little spark to your CV. To find out more click here.

Take part in a business game with your friends

XING Business Game
Wednesday 12 October 2011
2pm – 6pm

XING is an interactive strategy game where a small team of students go through the decision processes and stages of setting up a new business venture. It doesn’t matter if you want to set up your own business or not – it’s about thinking creatively, being entrepreneurial and working within a team!

This game will feature judges from a range of businesses with the chance to present to them.  You don’t need to have any prior of knowlege of writing a business plan – just ideas and enthusiasm.  AND there is a cash prize for the winning team.

Taking part in competitions like Xing looks great on a CV and is a fantastic way to impress future employers – helping you to stand out from the crowd.

To register for this event Students register in groups of 4-6.  When registering a team one student registers for the whole team, giving the email address and first and second names of all the students on the team.

If you don’t have a group register on your own and we will allocate you to a team.

Send you registration to careers@qmul.ac.uk with “XING Team” as the subject by 5pm on 10 October 2011.

We send them you a reminder email 2 days before, asking for notifications of any drop-outs, so that we can re-jig teams if necessary.

Urban Water Challenge: student competition

Calling students of urban planning and design, architecture, landscape architecture and engineering.  You are invited to enter the Urban SOS 2011 student competition.

Urban SOS is an annual student competition created to engage students with the issues confronting modern cities and to find solutions to the complex challenges facing today’s built and natural environments. The theme of this year’s competition is water.

Water is the world’s most vital resource and needs creative design, planning and engineering responses to tackle water-based challenges facing urban sites. If you or a team of yourself and some friends have any buzzing ideas you are encouraged to submit them as a project plan by Friday 29 July 2011.

In November, three finalists (individuals or teams) will travel to the centre for London’s built environment, New London Architecture (NLA), to present their submissions to a panel of judges.  The finalists will be competing for a cash prize of £9,500 and a further award of up to £15,600 in value for a charitable/relief organisation to help make your project possible. For more information please see the website.

Entering this competition is a great opportunity to build skills like problem-solving and project management for the workplace.  It shows a strong interest in the industry which employers look for in applications. It offers the chance to progress your ideas into reality, which is a great achievement in itself and also a good way to learn about the sort of job you would like to do in the future.