Welcome to Sheffield—home to one of the UK’s top universities for journalism courses.
Welcome to Sheffield—home to one of the UK’s top universities for journalism courses. Students come to this part of Yorkshire from across Britain and around the world to prepare themselves for a career in the industry in a variety of paths.
Pippa Moyle is one of those students. Moyle, with her colleague Cathy Sables, is one of the co-editors of Liberty Belle magazine, which was formed just this year. Moyle, who joined the publication under its former name Stiletto in 2011, wanted to specifically write for a magazine. She notes she wants to have a career in magazine journalism upon her graduation and would like to be an editor. “I started out as a writer after I signed up at the University of Sheffield Fresher’s Fair,” Moyle said. “Stiletto was a very girly magazine, when Cathy and I took over, we decided to re-brand to create a publication with more sophistication dedicated to showcasing the uniqueness of Sheffield to students.”
Moyle and Sables knew that collaboration would be at the heart of the new publication. “When Cathy and I sat down over the summer to work out how Liberty Belle was going to work, we agreed that we wanted to collaborate with as many societies as possible to tell students about the opportunities that are out there,” Moyle said. “Already our Entertainments team has reviewed plays and performances by societies, Current Affairs has reported on Sheffield Union news and we’ve had meetings with the Fashion Society to discuss their collaboration with our Fashion section.”
With its web site recently launched, Liberty Belle has also integrated Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr to expand its presence. It is because of the technology and the accessibility, Moyle says, that is one of the reasons why the future of student journalism in the UK is exciting, and which has been able to make Liberty Belle a reality. “In the past, journalism students had to rely on their experience coming from highly competitive University newspapers, many of which were elitist,” Moyle said. “Now, groups of aspiring journalists can pull together to create something different and showcase talent that wouldn’t otherwise be noticed. We started out with no money but with a little bit of faith and persistence we have managed to lift it off the ground. I’m most proud of my team, for keeping strong through the hardships, for giving up so much time for something that they’re passionate about and for creating Liberty Belle Sheffield.”
Liberty Belle Sheffield can be accessed online at http://www.libertybellesheffield.com and is also on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr.
Editor’s note to readers: This piece is part of a series for Kettle examining UK student publications and student journalism.
