LV= Insurance, the Official Domestic Test and County Cricket Partner of the England & Wales Cricket Board, today launches a grant to drive diversity in the cricket media by giving a young person the opportunity to cover the 2023 Test Summer as a cricket journalist.
The Black Collective of Media in Sport (BCOMS) will identify candidates for a fully-paid five-month internship with LV= with their brief to cover press conferences, matches and events taking place during the 2023 domestic cricket season.
The individual will be working with journalists from The Cricket Writers’ Club (CWC) – a partner of LV= Insurance – across the 2023 summer and get the chance to shadow members of the national cricket media at matches including the Ashes and within newsrooms, as well as co-writing match reports and news stories.
Media titles such as PA Media, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Telegraph, The Cricketer and CRICKETher have already agreed to support the candidate with opportunities to work on their sports desk and shadow at events.
BCOMS will be liaising with their northern and southern cohorts to identify a selection of applicants and, following interviews, the top three applicants will then be asked to take on a pre-assigned writing task and submit their entries to an expert judging panel.
The judging panel will consist of:
- Dean Wilson, Cricket Correspondent at The Daily Mirror
- Raf Nicholson, Editor of CRICKETher
- Andrew Ducille, Operations Manager at BCOMS
- Lisa Leroux, Social Media Lead at BCOMS
- Jon Mansley, Sales and Marketing Director at LV= General Insurance
Once the panel has decided the successful candidate, they will be unveiled at an event run by LV= Insurance in October in London.
The successful candidate will begin work on 20th March 2023 and spend their summer working on activating LV= Insurance’s partnership with the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB), shadowing the national cricket media and covering Test matches and the LV= County Championship for both the LV= Cricket Hub and on behalf of selected UK cricket media titles.
Heather Smith, Managing Director at LV= General Insurance, said: “It’s very exciting to be able to announce the launch of our Media Diversity Grant, which will offer a young person from a diverse background the opportunity to work in cricket. Bringing more diversity to the sport is incredibly important and with the world of sport journalism being hugely competitive, we’re delighted to be providing this opportunity. Over the last 18 months, we’ve worked hard to open up cricket and support new communities through our £1 million grassroots cricket initiative #Funds4Runs which is co-funded with the ECB and, working together, we’re keen to continue doing as much as we can to support the cricket community.”
George Dobell, Chairman of the Cricket Writers’ Club, said: “It has become painfully apparent that our sport isn’t as inclusive as it should be. Alongside the Bethan James Bursary, which we introduced in 2021, this grant is a tangible attempt to improve things. We’re grateful to LV= Insurance for their investment and delighted to support it.”
Drew Christie, Chair of BCOMS, said: “Cricket has a long and rich tradition in Black communities, and it’s important that this is reflected in those that frame the narratives around the game, as well as participate in it. BCOMS is pleased that LV= Insurance and the Cricket Writers’ Club recognise the value of working to improve diversity within the sport, and we’re looking forward to the opportunity the Media Diversity Grant will offer aspiring Black cricket journalists to develop their careers.”
CRICKETher 