Football writer nets £4,000 Guild journalism bursary

The winner of this year’s Guild of St Bride journalism bursary, an award of £4,000 towards postgraduate tuition fees, is budding football writer Ed Pracy.

Ed takes up a newspaper journalism master’s course place at City, University of London, in September, after leaving a job with a law firm. He is particularly interested in sport and investigative journalism and has already had his own blog posts published on leading football websites. 

With a first class degree in Spanish and Portuguese from Manchester University, Ed aims to get to grips with the politics, business and morals of sport as he develops his specialist writing. He has already been paid for his first article and has also made forays into local community journalism as part of his MA application process.

He told the interview panel at City – City postgraduate programme director Jonathan Hewett, Guild Master Lord Black, Guild Clerk David Blackwell and Court member Simon Greaves – that he began writing seriously about football after a year-long visit to Lisbon, developing a special interest in the clubs of Iberia and Latin America. Ed aims to become a journalist “of the highest quality” with the potential to achieve great things with the backing of the Guild.

Ed becomes the fourteenth recipient of a bursary award in a scheme which has made an annual award since 2012 to enable a student to embark on an MA course in interactive or newspaper journalism at City.

It is offered as a practical contribution to supporting the next generation of journalists committed to the profession; it also helps to consolidate the links between St Bride’s and the journalistic community in Britain and worldwide.

The bursary is open to applicants of all faith backgrounds and none. The award is given with consideration given to candidates’ journalistic potential, their academic merit, financial need and then the overall quality of their individual application and presentation.

In 2021 the Guild and bursary scheme celebrated a decade of support for young journalists since it was originated by past master Sir David Bell. Past recipients of the award – many now on second or third jobs in their profession – have progressed to forge solid careers in top-level journalism, while the Guild continues to support them with networking opportunities, work experience placement, writing assignments, and social invitations.

Written by: Simon Greaves, Video Revise Editor, Financial Times, and member of the Guild of St Bride’s