The University of Salford announces new Asian Media Awards scholarship

The scholarship is a collaboration between the University and the national gala that will provide £10k for an applicant to study a three-year undergraduate programme in either television, film or media.

It comes as the University celebrates ten years as the premier partner of the Awards and has been running a campaign over recent months to celebrate the success of our graduates of Asian descent in the creative sectors, the Awards' rise as a major media event and to help raise the profile of a career in these industries to those of Asian descent.

The scholarship announcement was made on stage by Professor Allan Walker, Dean of the School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology at the University, during the 11th iteration of the awards at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate on Friday 27 October.

Professor Walker said: “We are absolutely delighted to announce a new scholarship for an Asian applicant to pursue a career in the creative industries at the University of Salford.

“We are tremendously proud of our partnership with the Asian Media Awards over the last ten years and are very thankful to Shuiab for his support in making this scholarship a reality.

“This is the start of an exciting new era in our partnership which support our determination to do more to inspire the next generation of Asian talent to pursue a career in the creative industries so we would encourage those within the industry to get in touch as we are very keen to increase the number of scholarships available in the coming years.”

A statement on behalf of the Asian Media Awards said: "We have been keen to support those who are taking their first steps into journalism and creative media since the onset.

"We hope this scholarship will assist someone into further education who may not have considered taking the route due to financial constraints. It may also inspire young people to consider a career in the media.

"The awards have helped to shine a light on a wide range of talents from diverse communities and we hope through our partnership we can continue to do this."

The Asian Media Award Scholarship will be available for applicants looking to attend the University from the 2024/25 academic year.

Applicants must have a total household income of £30,000 or less per annum to apply. More information, including the full list of eligible courses for the scholarship, and how to apply will be published on the University’s website in due course.

Stars from across radio, television and broadcasting were celebrated at this year’s lavish ceremony, which was hosted by Neev Spencer of Magic FM.

Those honoured on the night included the BBC broadcaster and presenter Tina Daheley, who was named Media Personality of the Year and celebrated British-Indian journalist and author Mihir Bose, who received the Outstanding Contribution to Media Award.

ITV News Central’s Raheem Rashid was named the University of Salford’s Outstanding Young Journalist, following in the path of previous successful winners such as the Daily Mail’s Isaan Khan, fellow ITV journalist Ravneet Nandra and Sky News’ Inzamam Rashid.

He was presented with the award by Professor Walker and Paul Broster, Associate Dean: Academic at the University’s School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology.

Raheem has produced a series of exclusives this year on a family who lost their 12-year-old son in an e-scooter accident, provided stories that have shed light on under-represented minority voices and recently followed the journey of a Midlands GB who travelled to Pakistan after having raised nearly half a million pounds in aid for flood victims.

Raheem said: "When I started at ITV, I was always told it is about the people. The people are what matter in the story. You can have a story but if you don’t have people talking to you then it means nothing. Viewers don’t connect and people don’t believe you – that is what I think is ultimately important.

“That is the ethos I have always tried to bring to our journalism. In the regions, it is people being at the heart of the story.”

Debra Prinselaar, Director of Film and Broadcast Media at the University, presented actor, comedian and writer Humza Arshad with the award for Best Programme / Show for his documentary ‘Humza: Forgiving the Unforgivable’.

The deeply personal programme poses questions about how people forgive those who have committed atrocious acts against their family members and focuses on an incident in which his cousin was brutally attacked by a group of young men when Humza was a teenager.

Read the full list of winners at the 2023 awards here.