THE winner of The Press’s competition to find reporters of the future has been announced.

Spencer Brown, 17, of Easingwold, goes to Easingwold Sixth Form and submitted a match report covering North Yorkshire County Schools’ Football Association winning the Northern Counties, Schools’ U18s Football Association title.

Our competition for youngsters aged 16-18 years was run in conjunction with the National Council for the Training of Journalists, which trains journalists and photographers for the UK newspaper industry. The council is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

To mark the milestone, The Press joined the NCTJ’s Stars Of The Future competition to encourage young people to consider a career in journalism by trying their hand at writing a news story.

The aim of the challenge is to increase students’ awareness of the career paths available in journalism, and to provide information about how they can get jobs in the various areas of the profession Spencer’s article was one of many that came into The Press and the judges were impressed by his writing style and his good use of quotes – and the fact that he included his own photograph.

Spencer’s article along with others from other regional newspapers will now be sent to the NCTJ for final judging.

A single winner from all the regional successes will be selected by members of the NCTJ board and the winning entrant will be awarded a prize of £150. All winners will be featured on the NCTJ website and receive an award certificate.

The overall winner will be announced on Friday, July 1.

...and here’s his winning article

York Press: Picture: Spencer Brown NORTH Yorkshire Counties Schools’ Football Association U18 football team have secured an historic Northern Counties’ Schools’ Football Association title after overcoming their Roses rivals Lancashire in a ferociously competitive competition.

To reach the showpiece event – hosted at Victoria Park, home of Nelson FC near Burnley, North Yorkshire stormed to first place in the northern East Counties League, beating Cumbria, Cleveland and Durham and drawing with Northumberland.

The top two from the North East and North West Counties League qualified for the semi-finals, where North Yorkshire then triumphed 1-0 over Cheshire to book a tantalising final berth against a strong Lancashire team.

Lancashire had beaten Cleveland in the other semi-final, and were brimming with confidence after winning the English Schools’ Football Association national trophy the previous month.

A determined and thoroughly disciplined performance, however, ensured a first-half goal was enough for North Yorkshire to end their season in emphatic and glorious style.

It is the first time the White Rose have won the competition, after losing in the final four years ago, and manager Mike Mastrolonardo was proud of his side’s achievement.

He said: “The lads had an outstanding work ethic and team spirit. They are a credit to their families, their schools, their districts and North Yorkshire.”