Social media, TV, and radio stars inspire young people at the 2025 BBC Young Reporter Festival.
This year’s festival came live from the University of Bradford, as the city celebrates being City of Culture 2025.
Hosted by BBC presenters Martin Dougan and Amber Sandhu, the two day event brought together students from colleges and sixth forms, and universities from Bradford and the wider region, offering them a glimpse into potential careers in the media.
Keeping it local, the festival lined up some of the best from the creative and digital industry from Yorkshire, to meet and share their experiences with young people, and give them a taster of the job they do via hands-on workshops.
During the event, they had the opportunity to meet and engage with a range of media professionals, including BBC Radio 1 presenters; producers; a screenwriter; an influencer and more, through informative masterclasses and talks.
Plus a live performance by Bradford soul singer Sinead Campbell, featured on BBC Introducing.
“We were thrilled to host this prestigious event, which could open doors to future careers for young people at the University and in the wider Bradford area. Events like this set a benchmark for cultural initiatives during Bradford 2025 as the city becomes a hub for opportunities in the arts and culture sectors.”
Overview of 2025
We had Bradford author and screenwriter AA Dhand talk us through how he writes gripping novels! His book is now a BBC six-part crime thriller Virdeethat’s set and filmed in the city. He was joined by shadow music producer Eeshar Singh and Unit Manager Simmi Ryatt, who gave their career advice.
Katylee Bailey, a lifestyle content creator with three million TikTok followers, shared her insights into becoming an influencer. She offered practical tips to the audience, as well as a candid discussion about the challenges of social media, including online trolling.
BBC Radio 1 Presenters Vicky Hawkesworth and Nat O’Leary (Group Chat with Nat and Vicky), and their producer, Luciano Giaimo, gave a mini radio production masterclass! There’s a lot more to it than you might think.
On the first day, the in-person audience were given an extra treat and participated in various interactive creative workshops.
Workshops on subjects including Rap Poetry & Lyrics; News Desk; Storytelling with Cyanotypes; Museum Stories; Game Design; Character Effects; Podcasting Stories; Simple Circuits & Sound Machines, Animation, Motion Capture & Digital Screening; all led by local organisations as well as the university.
An event for older students interested in a career in the creative industry, to meet people from the BBC, ITV, Sheffield Docfest, Screen Yorkshire and more, and how to build their networks.
A look back at 2024
The previous Young Reporter Festival was held at the Trades Hall of Glasgow, co-hosted by Martin Dougan (BBC presenter and journalist) and Chanise Evans (BBC Digital Journalist). Over the three days we lined up some of the best from the creative industry to meet and share their experiences with our young people. They included:
- Cast and crew from the long running BBC Scotland drama River City, who gave a low down on what it’s like working in front and behind the camera.
- Comedy actor, writer and director Sarah Grant, spoke about her career journey from stand up to performance poetry to comedy sketches on The Social, and finally getting a script commissioned for BBC Comedy! She gave tips on creating your own comedy sketches at home.
- The team behind the latest BBC Three must-watch series The Agency: Unfiltered revealed the glitz and glamour behind working at an influencer agency, and what it takes to make a successful reality TV show.
- Plus there were experts from the BBC Early Careers team, The Scottish Youth Film Foundation and the Outlander Training Schemes, as well as careers advice from the BBC News Next Gen panel.
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Catch up on our previous events.
