Local election reporting signed, sealed and delivered live on air thanks to team of UON students

The local elections landed across the county earlier this month (1 May 2025), where a team of Multimedia Journalism and Multimedia Sports Journalism students at the University of Northampton reported the election results live to thousands of listeners across the wider West Northamptonshire area.

The team of second-year Multimedia Journalism students were at the heart of the vote count, broadcasting a six-hour election programme via local radio station NLive Radio’s VoteWNC show, while simultaneously delivering breaking updates on NLive Radio’s website and social media.

To capture the full scoop on the vote counts for all 76 hopeful councillors, the team divided themselves between reporting live from the count itself, while others supported the council media team during one of their busiest times.

The broadcast included interviews with prospective and newly elected councillors – including a heartfelt discussion with former leader of West Northamptonshire Council, Adam Brown while his ward was being recounted, and frank conversations with former Labour councillors on the election outcomes.

As the voting results actions came to a close at Benham Sports Centre, second-year Multimedia Journalism student, Justine Larter reflected on her experience: “Reporting from the local election count for West Northamptonshire Council on NLive Radio’s VoteWNC show was fantastic.

“It was my second time being a count reporter since studying with UON, and it was great to be back using the experience and skills I had learnt from the 2024 general election – interviewing candidates and reporting live on air from outside the count. Working as part of a team of all-student reporters was amazing, and I can’t wait to do it again in the future.”

This event follows in the latest of a long line of professional reporting delivered by students on the University of Northampton’s BA Multimedia Journalism and BA Multimedia Journalism courses, following in the footsteps of their coverage on the US elections – both in 2020 and in 2024 – as well as their coverage of the last local elections in 2021, and of the UK General Elections of 2019 and 2024. It was for this which their reporting won a Silver Award in the 2024 Community Radio Awards.

The team were led by the UON’S Senior Lecturers in Journalism Kate Ironside and Hilary Scott in collaboration with Martin Steers of NLive Radio, the University’s linked community radio station.

Kate, a former Westminster political journalist, said: “As ever, I was hugely impressed by the professionalism and quality reporting delivered by our team of students. It was a real test of stamina and they rose splendidly to the challenge.

“There were also students – including Justine – who have reported on election counts previously, and their repeated opportunities to get stuck-in with live reporting offers them valuable opportunities to improve, develop and bolster their professional CVs.”

Martin, Station Manager of NLive Radio, said: “I’m so proud of what the students did, working with NLive Radio to deliver live results and interviews with newly elected councillors and representatives from the parties. As Northampton’s most local station, we were first to provide coverage on air across the area.

“This is also a fantastic example of the benefits of the relationship we have with the University, the resources of talented student journalists, and providing them the opportunity of industry based real world experiences.”

Find out more about studying Multimedia Journalism and Multimedia Sports Journalism at the University of Northampton.