Category: News; bbc.co.uk
Date: 21.05.2005
Printable version
Â鶹Éç News has announced a new bursary
for journalists to work on its news website bbc.co.uk - the bursary
is in honour of Ivan Noble, the science and technology
reporter who died of a brain tumour earlier this year.
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Ivan, who was 37, died after a two-year fight against
a brain tumour.
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He wrote a regular 'tumour diary' on the Â鶹Éç News website.
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The Â鶹Éç News site will be offering an annual, six-month
bursary to a journalist at the start of his or her career.
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The bursary, which will be advertised shortly, will
be awarded to a journalist who has recently completed a journalism course
or has less than two years' journalistic experience.
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They will also have a passion for science and technology.
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Over the six months, the bursary winner will work on
the science and technology sections of the website, will research and
write news reports and features, and will learn a wide range of skills
for reporting for the web.
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Pete Clifton, Editor of Â鶹Éç News Interactive, said the
bursary was an ongoing commitment to help reporters to learn the skills
of web journalism.
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He said: "When Ivan died, many readers asked what we
would do as a lasting tribute to him.
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"We think the bursary is a fitting thing to do - we
want to encourage a new journalist with the same passion for science
and technology that Ivan had."
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Ivan's wife Almut welcomed the announcement. She said:
"Ivan's illness was only a very short period of his life and the bursary
is there to remember his life before he was ill.
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"He was a science and technology writer and this is
what the bursary marks.
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"I'm very pleased and honoured that the Â鶹Éç has chosen
to remember his professional life before he was ill."
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Ivan's tumour diary was a regular feature on the site
from September 2002 to the last entry, on 31 January 2005 - the day
he died.
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It followed his battle through remissions and relapses
and provoked thousands of emails of support and tribute.
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The book of his diary entries, entitled Like a Hole
in the Head and published by Hodder & Stoughton, features some of these
tributes.
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The book's title comes from a comment Ivan made after
being told he needed more brain surgery. His response: "I need another
craniotomy like I need a hole in the head."
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The book also features interviews with people who have
lost relatives to brain tumours, as well as doctors trained in breaking
the bad news of terminal illness.
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The Â鶹Éç's proceeds from the book will go to Medecins
Sans Frontieres UK, the charity chosen by Ivan.
