A recent graduate from a Southampton university has scooped first place in a national journalism award.

Sébastien Zany, 21, a Sports Journalism graduate from Solent University won the award for Best TV Sports Journalism in the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC) Awards on Nov 10th.

His winning documentary 'From Ping-Pong’ to Table Tennis' explores the hidden difficulty of professional table tennis and impressed the judges with its "exceptional technical production."

Daily Echo:

French native Sébastien, who lives in Reading, is already reporting on screen as a freelance journalist covering the Premier League as a UK Correspondent for French channel Canal+.

In his role he conducts pre and post-match reporting on camera and interviews players and managers.

Daily Echo:

Commenting on his win, Sébastien said: "I am honoured to have won, considering the number of entries for this year‘s awards. Apparently it was the third highest year in terms of entries. I was very proud to represent Solent at the BJTC awards.

"In the summer, I saw the awards advertised and I applied. My documentary had received an A1 grade from my lecturers and I thought I might have a chance."

Sébastien added: "[Producing the documentary] was a long process which involved many hours of work and was mainly filmed in Germany over two days with a course friend. It is also a great way for me to end my journey at university and to highlight all the skills I was taught by my lecturers."

Will Cope, Course leader, BA (Hons) Sports Journalism at Solent University said: "We’re very proud that Sébastien has won this major, national award. He is a brilliant example of how creative, versatile and hard-working our graduates are, so it’s great to see him recognised in this way.

"I’m sure these won’t be the only awards Sébastien will be nominated for in the future."