England's Test match sponsors are putting up the cash for a grant to help increase the level of diversity within cricket's written media.
During next year's Ashes summer LV= will be providing a five month paid internship for a young black journalist to work alongside them as part of their partnership with the ECB as well as shadowing journalists like me in reporting on the game.
And with another bumper summer of cricket to look forward to, it will be the perfect chance for anyone looking for a foothold in the industry to get involved and experience what it is like to cover the best players and the best teams in the world first hand.
There will be opportunities for their work to be published on a national platform with the Daily Mirror one of several titles delighted to be supporting the initiative in collaboration with The Cricket Writers' Club and the Black Collective of Media in Sport.
At a time when there has rightly been a focus in the mainstream written media on diversity, or rather the lack of diversity, across so many industries and especially in sport, the media itself is not immune from scrutiny and criticism.
And despite such a rich and powerful tradition within cricket down the years, there is a gallingly low level of representation of black and South Asian sports journalists in the game's press boxes which reflects poorly on cricket's ambition to be the most inclusive game of all.
This media diversity grant is a very real and direct way of increasing opportunities for young journalists to make their way into the industry with the sort of support and encouragement that we all need at the outset of our careers.
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 successful candidate will begin work on 20 th 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.
LV= Managing Director Heather Smith 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."
Cricket Writers' Club chair George Dobell added: "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."
