STV and the Royal Television Society (RTS) have announced this year’s recipients of their joint undergraduate bursary, which aims to broaden access to the media industry by supporting talented students from lower income backgrounds to pursue careers in television.
The bursary scheme was launched by the RTS in 2014, with STV partnering in 2019, and sees each bursary scholar being awarded funding of £1,000 per year to assist with their expenses and living costs, along with a free RTS membership while studying and for an additional year after they graduate.
Scholars are also offered a range of paid work experience placements and mentoring opportunities at STV, as well as access to networking and industry insight sessions, to help develop a stronger, more diverse pool of creative and digital talent in Scotland.
STV is sponsoring ten students on a Television Production and Broadcast Journalism bursary. The recipients were selected by a panel of industry professionals following an open call to students applying for courses at accredited universities and institutions.
STV has made a multi-year investment in the bursary scheme, with an ambition to see 50 bursary scholars ultimately benefiting from the initiative. The announcement of this year’s recipients brings the total number of STV scholars since 2019 to 37.
The recipients of the STV/RTS partnership bursary programme for 2022 are:
- Samantha MacAlister, who is studying Broadcast Production Television & Radio at The University of the West of Scotland
- Conor Sullivan, who is studying Television at City of Glasgow College
- Natalino De Martino, who is studying Television at City of Glasgow College
- Sophie Reid, who is studying Television at Edinburgh Napier University
- lone Gildroy, who is studying French and Italian at The University of Edinburgh
- Margareta Cilinska, who is studying Filmmaking at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
- Andrew McFarlane, who is studying Broadcast Production Television & Radio at The University of the West of Scotland
- Peter McGachy, who is studying Television at City of Glasgow College
- Abbie Freeman, who is studying Film, Media and Journalism Studies at The University of Stirling
- Andrew Moffat Tierney, who is studying HND Creative Industries Television at City of Glasgow College
Simon Pitts, STV CEO, said: “We’re now into the fourth year of our bursary programme with the RTS and the amazing talent amongst the applicants continues to impress us. It’s one of STV’s key goals to make the TV industry more accessible to ensure that Scottish media truly reflects the audience it serves.
“Skills development is so important to us, and we look forward to supporting our talented scholars across each year of their education, through both the bursary and a range of mentoring and work experience opportunities."
For more details on the STV/RTS bursary scheme, go to rts.org.uk/bursaries.