As part of the Sky Young Journalists Awards 2008 five young journalists from Sky News describe different aspects of their career so far.

For me, the beauty of the World Wide Web is that it lets anybody with access to a PC and a modem have a go at being an online journalist.

Here at the Sky News website we might be worried by all the competition - only we know that millions of people keep coming back to our website because the stuff on it is so good!

If you're interested in working as an online journalist, why not try creating your own content - and see if you can get the eyes of the web looking at it?

Here are my tips for getting started:

1) Get web savvy - have a good snoop round and see how news organisations, bloggers and other groups get their message across. Think about what engages you and why. 'Join the conversation' by adding your comments if something grabs your interest. And have a good read of privacy policies if you use sites like Facebook. It's important to know how you can control and protect what you put online.

2) Stamp your territory on the net - set up a blog with Blogger, sign up to Flickr, join the YouTube community, become a podcaster with Ourmedia...  the options are literally endless. Link to your pages from your social networking page - and you'll have an instant audience.

3) Start creating content - a lot of blogs are random ramblings (boring), so keep your theme specific. You could report on the happenings in your local area, or cover a topic that interests you. For example, I started off writing a blog about student finance, then went on to create a site where I could publish news from a small charity I support. You should check it's ok with people before you put a video or picture of them online.

Try to use a combination of words, pictures and video to present your stories to keep people interested - you don't need fancy equipment; a basic digital camera or mobile phone is enough.

Finally, be prepared for feedback - positive and negative. Good luck!

Comments

[Khalid 13 Jun 2008 22:08:22]

Sir et Hazel
Thank you very much for your wonderful words of wisdom and passing on to us mere mortals, the true professional experience of how to become an online web savvy with a lot of creative content as we wonder why after all the stamping, we have'nt as yet marked our territory.
So, there I was [Darapuri] watching this spectacular news channel on 501 when all of a sudden, Ireland said no to a treaty over which we had lunch, whilst the Italian wine just evaporated.
Much to my amazement, I thought I couldnt buy any petrol and realsied, I havent a car, so no panic really. (The things they put into our heads nowadays). Anyway, hours later, the earth moved and I dropped my camera that I didnt have in the first place, so couldnt take any pictures to post on-line with or without permission, even if I wanted to.
But fear not, once I get as good as you folk, I'll have the best of digital technology. [Dekh Jawani] and http://www.sky.com/broadband ....Thankyou all aboard (Good Luck)