Happy Christmas to our readers

Fun Wirh Words is taking several days off for the Christmas break.

We wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

New course for PR and marketing professionals who write articles

The Writing for Publication Masterclass, a half-day training course for public relations and marketing professionals who write articles, will take place in London on Wednesday 10 December, and online booking is now open.

The Masterclass, presented by experienced author, journalist and former editor Peter Bartram, is designed for people who have to write articles for newspapers, magazines, in-house publications or websites.

The programme for the intensely practical course deals with common writing problems such as how to structure an article, how to write a grabbing introduction, and how to keep readers reading the article to the end.

Peter Bartram, who has had nearly 4,000 feature articles published in newspapers and magazines, said: “People who have been on the course should find their articles are more likely to be accepted for publication by editors.”

Previous Masterclass student, Bryony Ulyett, internal communications executive, corporate communications, at the Halcrow Group, said: “My colleague and I both found that the Writing for Publication Masterclass was an efficient solution to our writing needs. We received a very comprehensive list of ideas with which to improve the articles we write and copy edit for our internal magazine and on our intranet site.

“We were able to measure our understanding along the way with some quick tests, but no time was wasted and we accumulated knowledge and technique apace. Three hours after arriving we felt empowered and enthusiastic about writing for publication: this was money well spent!”

The Writing for Publication Masterclass costs £195 plus VAT per place. It is one of seven training courses from New Venture Training. Others include the Perfect Public Relations Masterclass, the Perfect Pitch Masterclass and the Perfect Proposals & Presentations Masterclass.

More information and online booking at http://www.writingforpublication.co.uk

Email marketing, writing for PR and Blogging courses announced by The PR Training Centre in its new Winter schedule

Email Marketing, Creative Writing for Public Relations, and Blogs and Online Reputation Management join the existing course lineup of PR Skills, Advanced PR skills, Online PR Training Skills and Web Marketing Skills in the new Winter schedule of one-day workshops announced today by The PR Training Centre.

Says course presenter Jacqui Green, ‘While core PR skills continue to be our most popular subjects, there is growing interest among delegates in areas such as how to engage the blogosphere, how to put that X-Factor into your writing, and how to manage email marketing campaigns – without falling foul of the spam filters. We are addressing all of these topics in our new half-day courses this winter.’

Dates announced for the Winter Schedule are:-

PR Skills Workshop 3 November 2008
Blogs and Online Reputation Management 10 November 2008
Web Marketing Skills Workshop 17 November 2008
Web Marketing Skills Workshop 27 November 2008
PR Skills Workshop 8 December 2008

Over the past four years, delegates have attended one-day workshops from companies that include; Carlton TV, Morgan Stanley, Associated Newspapers, British Red Cross, EMAP, Institute of Directors, Merril Lynch, BBC World Service, AstraZeneca, Wilkinsons, British Holidays, Southwest Trains, Campaign for Real Ale, Konica-Minolta, Arena Leisure, World Television, Oyezstraker, BOSE, Lichtenstein Lottery, Which? and Virgin Money.

Comments from those who have attended PR Training Centre workshops include:-

‘Best training course I've ever been on - really informative but friendly too!’ said Donna Rowree of Mannatech.

Leyna Bruce of EMAP said, ‘A really inspiring course I can’t wait to get back to the office to start actioning what I've learnt. ‘

‘Very informative course. I can use all the tips. The case studies and examples were helpful and illustrative’ said Rianne Batenburg of Merril Lynch

Linda piacquadio of Pickfords Removals said, ‘Really good eye-opener. Very worthwhile course. Interesting, engaging presenters, excellent. Would like to do the next course.’

‘Very informative without being daunting’, according to Tanya Oliver, Kent County Council.

Kerry Power of Digital Outlook, said, ‘Nice to be taught by people who clearly know what they're talking about! Excellent basic PR insight.’

The next one-day course will be the Advanced PR Skills Workshop which will take place on Friday 15 August at The PR Training Centre in Covent Garden, London. Full details are on our site http://www.theprtrainingcentre.com/advanced_pr_skills.html

Course content includes:-

How to integrate PR with the rest of the marketing mix

Advanced interview techniques that work

How to conduct successful lobbying campaigns

Using Digital PR and viral marketing effectively

Advanced media crisis management

Classic email mistakes – and how to avoid them

Market research for PR


FACT FILE:
The PR Training Centre provides practical one-day courses for busy people tasked with responsibility for marketing communications, press and public relations, web marketing and other marketing functions. The Centre runs regular monthly courses in London's Covent Garden. Its most popular course is the one-day Masterclass ‘PR Skills Workshop’ designed for anyone who finds themselves responsible for raising the profile of their organisation and gaining favourable media coverage.

Keywords: pr training, pr courses, pr training courses, PR skills workshop, Digital PR, Web2, Internet PR, viral marketing, trusted networks, social networking, videocasting, podcasting, e-marketing, blogging, blogosphere, viral PR campaigns.

Creative Writing for Public Relations; first date announced by The PR Training Centre

The PR Training Centre has announced the date for the first of its a new half-day workshops on Creative Writing for Public Relations – it will be held on Wednesday 15th October in Covent Garden, London.

The workshop is designed for marketing and PR people who are called on to write creatively, especially writing for print and producing copy for online media and websites. It covers all the most popular forms of writing including writing a press release, features, editorial submissions, case histories and web copy. It explains the importance of using keyword vocabularies and even covers writing effective pay-per-click adverts.

The course has two presenters, rather than one, both experienced professionals. Richard Milton is a journalist, writer and broadcaster who is the author of six books and writes as a freelance for both business publications and national dailies. Jacqui Green is head of a marketing and PR agency who is in regular contact with the media and has decades of experience in engaging the interest of journalists and editors through the written word.

Says Jacqui Green, ‘Because of the very high level of interest in this course we wanted to mount it sooner rather than later and have re-jigged our schedules to accommodate it. In fact, interest is so high that we are advising delegates to book their seat early to be sure of a place.’

The half-day Creative Writing for Public Relations Workshop will be held at The PR Training Centre, Covent Garden, London, and costs £345 plus Vat (£295 for each subsequent delegate). The first workshop will be held on [date ]. For further details see http://www.theprtrainingcentre.com/creative-writing-course.h...

Over the past four years, The PR Training Centre has trained delegates from companies that include; Carlton TV, Morgan Stanley, Associated Newspapers, British Red Cross, EMAP, Institute of Directors, Merril Lynch, BBC World Service, AstraZeneca, Wilkinsons, British Holidays, Southwest Trains, Campaign for Real Ale, Konica-Minolta, Arena Leisure, World Television, Oyezstraker, BOSE, Lichtenstein Lottery, Which? and Virgin Money.

FACT FILE:

Founded in 2004, The PR Training Centre provides practical one-day and half-day courses for busy people tasked with responsibility for marketing communications, press and public relations, web marketing and other marketing functions. The Centre runs regular courses each month in London's Covent Garden. Its most popular course is the one-day Masterclass ‘PR Skills Workshop’ designed for anyone who finds themselves responsible for raising the profile of their organisation and gaining favourable media coverage.

Keywords: pr training, pr courses, pr training courses, PR skills workshop, Digital PR, Web2, Internet PR, viral marketing, trusted networks, social networking, videocasting, podcasting, e-marketing, blogging, blogosphere, viral PR campaigns.

Creative Writing for Public Relations -- New course launched by The PR Training Centre

The PR Training Centre has announced a new half-day workshop on Creative Writing for Public Relations. The workshop is designed for marketing and PR people who are called on to write copy for print, online media and for websites.

The workshop covers all the most popular forms of writing including writing a press release, features, editorial submissions, case histories and web copy. It explains the importance of using keyword vocabularies and even covers writing effective pay-per-click adverts.

The course has two presenters, rather than one, both experienced professionals. Richard Milton is a journalist, writer and broadcaster who is the author of six books and writes as a freelance for both business publications and national dailies. Jacqui Green is head of a marketing and PR agency who is in regular contact with the media and has decades of experience in engaging the interest of journalists and editors through the written word.

Says Jacqui Green, ‘Writing skills are top of the wish list of so many of our delegates that we have bowed to popular demand and designed this workshop. We have been inundated with requests for a workshop on writing effective press releases, case study writing, writing for the web and perhaps the most challenging, how do I write creative copy? Interest is very high, so we are advising delegates to book their seat early to be sure of a place.’

The half-day Creative Writing for Public Relations Workshop will be held at The PR Training Centre, Covent Garden, London, and costs £345 plus Vat (£295 for each subsequent delegate. For further details see http://www.theprtrainingcentre.com/creative-writing-course.h....

Over the past four years, The PR Training Centre has trained delegates from companies that include; Carlton TV, Morgan Stanley, Associated Newspapers, British Red Cross, EMAP, Institute of Directors, Merril Lynch, BBC World Service, AstraZeneca, Wilkinsons, British Holidays, Southwest Trains, Campaign for Real Ale, Konica-Minolta, Arena Leisure, World Television, Oyezstraker, BOSE, Lichtenstein Lottery, Which? and Virgin Money.

Tindal Street Taps Into Regional Writing Talent

An independent publisher in the West Midlands Region has once again proved how to spot a good story by writing its own tale of success, earning its third Man Booker Prize longlisting in six years.

Gaynor Arnold’s debut novel ‘Girl in a Blue Dress’ has become the second successive novel published by Tindal Street Press in Birmingham to achieve this major literary accolade.

Arnold is a social worker for Birmingham’s Adoption and Fostering Service, whose book is a fictionalised account of Charles Dickens’ troubled marriage. It is about novelist Alfred Gibson, seen through the eyes of his estranged wife, Dorothea.

Tindal Street was already on the crest of a wave with ‘What Was Lost’, the debut novel from Catherine O’Flynn, which this summer became the first book in the publisher’s ten year history to be re-jacketed following sales of more than 40,000.

O’Flynn’s novel was also longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, as well as winning the Costa First Book Award, being shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the South Bank Show Literature Award, and longlisted for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction.

However, in the highly competitive literary world this expanding publishing house is not taking anything for granted, even with these two significant successes and the experience of a strong track record built up over the 40 books in its portfolio.

“We are only ever as good as our next book,” admits publishing director Alan Mahar. “However, we have a good success rate in our mission to export talent from the West Midlands Region across the country. We are not just producing Birmingham books for Birmingham people.

“What we do springs from a belief that there is talent in the Region and when we come across a book we believe in we feel it should be promoted nationally. We are proud of where we are from and what we do, which is definitely a virtue.

“Most of our writers have been turned down by mainstream publishers, but we take a chance with them based on our own editorial acumen and intuition. We focus on socially critical fiction, with a particular interest in urban, hard-hitting stories but literary quality is always paramount.

“Tindal Street provides opportunities for new writers, so it is a huge challenge to generate interest in titles by unknown regional authors. But talent which may be overlooked elsewhere can compete with the best books out there, as long as it’s presented in a professional and expert manner.”

The company was founded in 1998. It grew from the publishing ambitions of a number of writers in the Tindal Street Fiction Group, which still meets fortnightly in Moseley, Birmingham.

Still the only independent publisher specialising in fiction in the West Midlands Region, Tindal Street has led the way in its field by achieving national success ahead of its competitors outside London.

The company has an impressive record of eleven of its 41 titles so far being listed for national literary awards, and its selections generally fare well with reviewers.

Being selective is increasingly crucial, as Tindal Street has in some ways become a victim of its own success. The publisher’s office in Birmingham’s artisan Custard Factory is flooded with more than 100 manuscripts a month which are narrowed down to a shortlist of 12 per year. But only six of those will actually be published.

As the past ten years have shown, those which do make the grade have a strong chance of making it from that small West Midlands office onto a national stage.

Its first book to hit the big time was ‘Astonishing Splashes of Colour’ by Clare Morrall in 2003, which was Tindal Street’s thirteenth book and proved to be anything but unlucky.

Alan added: “When we started with Alan Beard’s book ‘Taking Doreen out of the Sky’ in 1998 it was well received and set up a model, showing us that what we were doing could work.

“But things really took off in 2003 when ‘Astonishing Splashes of Colour’ was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and sold 80,000 copies in all, with the rights sold in 15 countries.

“People come to us because they want the same experience as Morrall and O’Flynn. Both books have made people sit up and take notice because they were unusually successful for a regional publisher.”

The business received Arts Council funding in 2001, which was granted to discover literary fiction writers outside London who are not being accepted by commercial publishers. Tindal Street Press is still a regularly funded organisation because of its service to new writers.

Of the founding management team, Alan Mahar (publishing director), Penny Rendall (now a non-executive director) and Emma Hargrave (publisher, and for several years the only full time member of staff) are all still on board. Having joined as an assistant in 2002, Luke Brown is now enjoying his role as editor and publicist.

Alan added: “We have become a high performing, small independent outfit with the ambition to become increasingly profitable and create a more sustainable business without the need for public funding.

“In the future we are hoping to publish a higher number of books which become more commercial and profitable while maintaining our core literary values and range of titles.”

Budding journalists need look no further

The world of journalism is changing fast with the rise in online media and swift advances in digital technology making this an exciting time to start training and working in the industry.

Highbury College, Portsmouth is an education provider that prides itself on its ability to move with the times, offering journalism courses that are tailored not only to meet industry standards, but to push the boundaries of excellence.

According to figures released by the National Council for Training of Journalists, Highbury College offered one of the UK’s top ten journalism courses at further education colleges for 2007. This is a major achievement for the College and they aspire to be in the top five by 2010.

As an institution it has an exceptional reputation for turning out highly successful journalists and many ex-students are now household names including ITN’s Mark Austin, BBC Political Correspondent John Pienaar and former president of CNN, Chris Cramer.

For those looking for a career in journalism, there could not be a better place to start as the College offers four main foundation qualifications: Newspaper Journalism pre-entry, Magazine Journalism, Broadcast Journalism and a Foundation Degree in Media Practice.

These are full-time courses, validated by relevant industry bodies which assess the courses for quality and effectiveness, letting employers know that they can expect the best from graduating students.

The Magazine Journalism, Newspaper Journalism pre-entry and Broadcast Journalism courses take only 20 weeks to complete and cover key skill areas, such as media law and public affairs as well as technical production skills.

The Foundation Degree in Media Practice allows students to learn at the College and pay much lower fees than at a university, with the prospect of direct entry onto an Honours Degree or even going straight into employment.

The College has developed strong links with the newspaper, television and radio industries and an encouraging number of editors and guest speakers, such as freelancers and senior journalists, visit the College on a regular basis, sharing their knowledge with students and providing valuable insights into the potential careers available to them.

Peter Moutray, Head of Media and Journalism at the College, said: “On the Broadcast course we have editors coming in to run news days with the students so they are familiar with how things are run. After leaving Highbury, students can go into a news room and be useful employees from day one.”

Paul Hankey, 20, who completed the Foundation Degree in Media Practice before moving into a career in radio, said: “I think it gives you a more hands-on approach. Instead of writing essays about it you get to produce something yourself. All the skills I got from the course I regularly use in my everyday work, from digital imagery to video editing and audio editing.”

The practical elements of the Broadcast Journalism course, accredited by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council, and the Foundation Degree in Media Practice, validated by the University of Surrey, are boosted by a unique partnership with Portsmouth’s community radio station, Express FM.

Students have the enviable opportunity to produce their own radio shows, presenting their work during agreed midday and drive-time slots.
It is no surprise the success rates on the courses are so high. The last Foundation Degree in Media Practice course saw a 100% success rate and hopes are high for the graduating students on the other courses.

Course syllabuses are flexible and frequently changing in order to meet the demands of an ever-evolving industry.

The Newspaper Journalism course, which has just been accredited by the National Council for Training of Journalists (NCTJ) for a further three years, is currently undergoing several new improvements to help prepare students for the new digital and online era.

New students will be given an introduction to video cameras and editing from week one and will be taught how to write successfully for the web.

The college’s outstanding reputation is no longer limited to the UK as this year, Highbury College staff embarked on an exciting new venture, travelling across continents to be guests at the fifth African Film and Television Expo (BOBTV), held in Abuja, Nigeria.

During their stay, the group delivered a number of workshops and held high profile talks with television and radio industry leaders.
As a result of the trip, 45 employees from African Independent Television will be arriving for training at the College over the next year, with more to follow.

Course lectures and productions all take place in industry standard media suites with modern facilities and equipment.
But new arrivals to the College will soon benefit from facilities being built at the £37.5m Highbury College Campus, which will be of the highest standard and furnished with the newest advances in media technology.

“It is a priority for us that the students have access to the best most up to date equipment,” said Peter.

“The new build is going to give us high definition television studios, digital radio studios and modern digital news rooms.”

Highbury College is an institution that has proved its dedication to education and training, from the first-class service delivered to employers and students, to the extensive plans for the future.

The impressive new facilities will no doubt secure Highbury College as the destination of choice for budding journalists.

For more information or to apply for a course at Highbury College, please call Alex on (023) 9231 3373 or visit the website at www.highbury.ac.uk.