In 2017 I found myself sitting at a table with the Channel 4 news team at the British Journalism Awards. It was like a dream come true.

I was a finalist in the scoop of the year category for a story about exorbitant pay in higher education.

The prize went to the Daily Mirror for its sting on the former Labour MP Keith Vaz in a drugs and sex scandal (a tough one to beat), but it showed me the power of the press in effecting change.

My first journalism idol was Kevin McCarra, football correspondent for the Guardian back when you could buy the paper for 40p.

With the ambition to fill his shoes one day I got involved in the student newspaper at University of Portsmouth. I like to think I passed on a promising football career to cover my housemate’s matches in the bitter cold and howling wind on the coastal sports campus.

I place huge importance on pictures as a way of telling a story and always aim to source the highest quality images.