Class of 2025 School of Journalism graduate Luci Bell has been recognised for achieving the best result in the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism court reporting exam.
Luci achieved an impressive 98% in her court reporting exam, the highest of anyone in the UK in the 2023-24 academic year.
A total of 11,158 diploma exams were sat throughout the last academic year and each of the top performing students receive a cash prize of £250.
Congratulations to Lucianne Bell who achieved 98% in media law and receives the court reporting award, supported by @NationalWorld pic.twitter.com/ULAnl6ej8r
— NCTJ (@NCTJ_news) July 22, 2025
Luci said: “I’m super excited to have won this award, it definitely makes all the revision worth it!
“The undergraduate course at the News Associates is extremely practical, you’re a journalist from day one with content published across The Londoner sites.”
“It’s also great that the NCTJ is integrated within the degree, so you have all the qualifications and skills needed to enter the industry.”
Luci completed her NCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree in May and will celebrate her graduation in November 2025. She has been travelling, but will soon re-join Centrica as a marketing graduate, having previously interned there last summer.
She said: “These skills are also extremely transferable to similar industries such as PR, marketing, and communications. So, it helps keep a variety of career options open which I think is crucial at an undergraduate level.”
A third of the highest-performing journalists in the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism exams for the year 2023-24 trained on a News Associates course.
Alongside Luci, Ayaat Yassin-Kassab, Rosa Kama and Tom Picillo each achieved the best results in shorthand, sports journalism and data journalism.
This is the second year in a row that four of the 12 highest-scoring NCTJ exams were achieved by a News Associates trainee.
News Associates course leader Tom Holmes said: “It’s always a joy but never a surprise to see our trainees winning awards for their performance on their NCTJ courses. To have four names on this list is a testament to our team but more than that to the trainees themselves.
“It was an absolute delight to train Luci, Ayaat, Rosa and Tom who are four outstanding individuals. They all worked supremely hard and deserve their success.”
You can find out more about our BA Multimedia Journalism here.