Program Overview

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BA (Honours) Sports Journalism

Course summary

Become a sports journalist in one of the UK’s premier sporting cities – learn from industry experts, gain real-world experience and hone your skills in state-of-the-art facilities.

How you learn

You’ll learn from award-winning journalists, media specialists and internationally recognised theorists – with experience across a range of industries.

Throughout the course, you’ll connect with Sheffield’s thriving sporting environment to report on real-life sports stories. You’ll engage with authentic scenarios, with a special focus on under-represented sports and sporting communities. This practical approach is underpinned by research and an examination of the legal, ethical and regulatory frameworks relevant to sports journalism.

We’ll introduce key topics and concepts through a mix of tutor-directed learning and discussions, and student-led exercises and tasks. Our teaching is digitally enhanced – you’ll engage in collaborative activities both in person and online. As this is a practical course, we’ll assess you through course work rather than exams.

You learn through:

• lectures, workshops and seminars
• practical and group work
• essays, case studies and reports
• research projects
• oral and digital presentations
• collaboration with external partners
• independent work
• portfolios

Key themes

Your course begins with the basics of journalism – writing and broadcasting. Researching stories starts on day one – all your stories are real life, based in the communities of Sheffield, South Yorkshire and beyond. There’s a particular focus on gender and diversity, as well as reporting the growth areas of women’s sport and sport for athletes with a disability.

In your second year, you’ll build on these skills with a firm grounding in the legal and regulatory requirements of the industry, while improving your research and investigation skills. You’ll also take part in ‘news days’, simulating the experience of a fast-paced newsroom.

Your final year is about preparing you for the workplace. ‘Sports News Live’ is a module where you spend the day in our top-quality studios – preparing a multi-platform sports programme. Here you’ll create a TV show, radio show and both online and digital outputs. We also recognise there are great employment opportunities working in media management for sports clubs. This is where journalism and PR meet, and you’ll be prepared for it in the ‘Working in Sports Media’ module. You’ll also create a final piece of detailed work in your research project – a written dissertation or practical project – with the support of a personal tutor.

Course support

You’ll be supported by staff every step of the way to fulfil your potential and ambitions. This might be by working with others in small groups, or by developing your own independent learning style.

You’ll also be supported towards highly skilled, graduate-level employment through a number of key areas. These include:

• access to specialist support to help with your personal, academic and career development
• access to our Skills Centre with one-to-ones, webinars and online resources, where you can get help with planning and structuring your assignments
• industry-specific employability activities such as live projects, learning in simulated environments and networking opportunities

Applied learning

Work placements

We encourage and support you to undertake a full-time work placement between the second and third year of your course.

Previous students have worked for Sheffield County FA, various South Yorkshire sports clubs, the BBC, regional newspapers, and local and national PR agencies.

Live projects

We have close links with the local sports community and organisations such as the BBC, Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield Star. Our contacts provide opportunities for students to build relationships and get real-world work experience.

Networking opportunities

Every year we hold industry events to link you with regional and national sports experts.

Previous students have also heard from a variety of guest speakers – including paralympic champions, award-winning commentators and reporters, and the head of audio/video at The Guardian.

Recent speakers have shared experiences of football reporting and spearheading a sports club’s media operation. Others have spoken on topics such as the recent growth in women’s sports. And former graduates have returned to Hallam to share their experiences and tips for finding jobs.

Field trips

You’ll have opportunities to take field trips and educational visits. Previous trips have included the National Football Museum, as well as visits to local sporting clubs.

Modules

Year 1

• Broadcast Journalism
• Live Event Reporting
• Sport And Popular Culture
• Sports Writing

Year 2

• Content Creation
• Media Law, Regulation And Government
• Research And Investigation Skills
• Sports Newsday

Year 3

• Long Form Journalism
• Sports Journalism Research Project
• Sports News Live
• Working In Sports Media

Future careers

The course prepares you for careers in:

• sports journalism and journalism
• sports club media relations
• digital sports PR
• radio
• social media and podcasting

Previous journalism and sports journalism graduates have gone on to work for:

• BBC radio and TV
• IMG
• International Olympic Committee
• Channel 4
• Wolverhampton Wanderers
• Sky
• TalkSport
• Liverpool FC TV
• Sheffield Wednesday media relations

Equipment and facilities

On this course you have access to:

• industry-standard editing facilities using Adobe creative suite
• TV studios to produce programmes and learn about the newsroom environment
• radio studios to learn journalism skills for radio broadcast and podcast making
• our Creative Media Centre and our skilled support team
• video equipment, cameras, tripods and microphones

Where will I study?

You study at City Campus through a structured mix of lectures, seminars and practical sessions as well as access to digital and online resources to support your learning.

Entry requirements

• UCAS points: 112-120
• GCSE: English Language at grade C or 4, Maths at grade C or 4
• Access: an Access to HE Diploma with at least 45 credits at level 3 and 15 credits at level 2. At least 15 level 3 credits must be at merit grade or above, in a media-related programme from a QAA-recognised Access to HE course, or an equivalent Access to HE certificate
• IELTS: 6.5 with a minimum of 5.5 in all skills or equivalent

Fees and funding

• Home students: £9,535 per year (capped at a maximum of 20% of this during your placement year)
• International students: £18,000 per year (capped at a maximum of 20% of this during your placement year)