I’ve been working for the past couple of months with the University of Westminster’s Active Travel Academy, a cycling and walking think tank, as it were, bringing together academics and specialists from inside and outside the university to help solve some of the challenges we face around car dominance.
My role is to use my journalistic knowledge and expertise to forward the ATA’s aims.
I had the idea to run a Media Awards for journalists writing about the issues car dependency brings about, as well as issues affecting cycling and walking, and micromobility.
If I had the idea, Dr Rachel Aldred drove it forward, organising the website, the venue for the event, the panel, and many of the logistics. Long story short, we held a call for submissions, shortlisted those submissions, and with our panel, picked the winners - which wasn’t an easy task.
We held the event on 25 November 2019. I acted as host, introducing the ATA, the awards, and talking about our aims and why we shortlisted and picked the winners. We handed out medals made from recycled bike chains and inner tubes. It was a huge success, not least given the limited time and resources we had to run it - and we can’t wait to hold a bigger and better event next year.
I wrote a blog about it for the ATA website, so you can read (and watch the video) of our inaugural event here.
In other news there will be some exciting news about the journalistic part of my role, coming soon. Watch this space!