By 
Being nominated for an Oscar, interviewing Prince William and becoming Time Inc.’s youngest editor are just a few of the accomplishments City graduates have achieved this year.
The nominees for the £500 XCity Award, for outstanding journalism by a City graduate, have been chosen by both alumni and members of staff in the journalism department.
Among nominees’ achievements are starting an online campaign that raised more than £1 million for Manchester Dogs’ Home, a documentary that focused on Syrian female activists and an investigation into modern day slavery.
Other nominations were for a behind-the-scenes book about the 2014 Scottish independence referendum and 2015 general election, and a Guardian journalist who, since fleeing the Middle East, has written extensively about conflicts in Iran.
The XCity Award was established in 2011 to mark the 25th anniversary of XCity Magazine. Past winners of the award include freelance journalist Iona Craig for her reporting of the Yemen crisis and The Guardian’s James Ball for his data journalism work on the Snowden files.
A shortlist of five candidates will be announced over the course of the coming week. Interviews with each shortlisted nominee will be featured on XCity Plus, so stay tuned.
For now, have a look at the 25 longlisted nominees for the 2016 XCity Award, in no particular order:
Adam Benzine (Magazine 2010)
Nominated for an Oscar for his documentary “Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah”
Fay Schlesinger (Newspaper 2008)
Became head of news at The Times last year, which means it has a women-led backbench
Emily Wadsworth (Magazine 2015)
Became Time Inc.’s youngest ever editor when she took over List for Life
Alan White (Newspaper 2005)
Broke the Kids Company story last year alongside Chris Cook of Newsnight
Ben Whitelaw (Newspaper 2011)
Head of community and digital development at The Times, and has been instrumental in developing a smartphone app which will be launching soon
Beth Ashton (Interactive 2013)
As head of audience at Manchester Evening News, she led them to become the 25th most successful Facebook publisher in the world last year and started a campaign for Manchester Dogs’ Home, which raised more than £1 million in less than 24 hours
Alex Marshall (Periodical 2003)
His work in music and politics culminated in a book, Republic Or Death: Travels in National Anthems, released mid-2015
Sam Holder (Broadcast 2014)
Reported on a young boy with a degenerative disease to fund treatment where the Government could not
Steven Walker (PG Dip Journalism 1981)
Began a campaign that tracked the evolving national inquiry into child sexual abuse
Erica Buist (Magazine 2012)
Wrote a candid piece about the death of an in-law that was published in The Guardian
Carolina Are (BA Journalism 2014)
Was accepted for the European Communication Research Association conference where she presented her dissertation
Yannic Rack (BA Journalism 2015)
Won two awards for highest achieving student and best final print/online project
Lucy Palmer (BA Journalism 2016)
Content editor at The Economist Educational Foundation
Michaela Carroll (BA Journalism 2016)
Commissioned by the BBC to do the School Report
George Arbuthnott (Investigative 2009)
Winner of Campaign of the Year for Britain’s Secret Slaves campaign, a year-long investigation exposing human trafficking in the UK
Kimiko Defreytas Tamua (Financial 2012)
For her coverage of the Paris attacks for The New York Times and the effect the attacks had in Brussels
Jenny McCall (Science 2014)
Won the Anti-Slavery Day Media Award in October 2015 for writing an article about modern slavery
Smitha Mundasad (Science 2010)
Reported on the Ebola outbreak crisis in Western Africa
Sophie Murray-Morris (Interactive 2014)
Appointed deputy social media editor at Metro last year, and has a track-record in using data analytics to boost engagement and social traffic
Patrick Scott (Interactive 2014)
A data journalist in Trinity Mirror’s Data Journalism Unit, which produces text, data and interactive stories for the Daily Mirror
Sophia Kichou (BA 2016)
Interviewed Prince William for The Big Issue. Earlier this year, she was honoured by the Prince for her achievements at the charity’s first-ever awards ceremony
Joe Pike (Broadcast 2011)
A political reporter based at the Scottish Parliament who wrote Project Fear – a behind-the-scenes book about the 2014 Scottish referendum and 2015 general election
Zaina Erhaim (International 2011)
Received the Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism for her work covering the conflict in Syria
Catherine Townsend (International 2008)
A writer and licensed private investigator who specialises in immersion journalism and creative undercover work for The Independent, The Mail on Sunday, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan and others
Saeed Kamali-Dehghan (International 2011)
After fleeing the Middle East to make a new life in the UK, he reported on the conflict for The Guardian
By 
