Is new media killing journalism?

It’s only an allegory but if you want truth you need accuracy. However, in today’s climate of sensationalist news and corporate fat cats, precision finds itself a long way down on the agenda. The traditional newspaper is undoubtedly on the decline. In fact, recent studies revealed sales were declining year-by-year by 4.7% in the United Kingdom. Of course, while newspaper sales have been slowly dwindling, consumption of news can claim to have vastly increased. Oh, the irony. Today, the internet provides users with the opportunity to gain immediate gratification. World news at the reader’s fingertips, complete with audio and video packages, is something that mere paper and ink just doesn’t seem able to contend with. With the rise of the web and citizen journalism, newspapers are desperately trying to drum up much-needed revenue, but it seems that this comes at the expense of traditional journalism ethics. In the same fashion that television killed radio, the conventional reporter meets a similar fate at the hands of contemporary media.

It was the 1830’s when capitalism first reared its ugly head in the newspaper industry. With the introduction of stamp duty, a tax that each publication paid to parliament, several newspapers challenged the law by producing cheap ‘unstamped’ alternatives. The journalists were often volunteers and there was an emphasis on improving social standards as opposed to profit. At their peak, the radical newspapers had a significantly wider readership. It has been estimated that for every paper published at least twenty-five people either read it or had it read to them. The unstamped press flourished across Britain and played a major part in the establishment of the first trade unions. It gave working-class radicalism a sense of purpose and fostered organisations, as well as acting as the moral eyes and ears of the public despite the risk of imprisonment.

How times have changed. Academic researchers in Cardiff carried a study to gauge how newspapers had changed since 1985, the year that Rupert Murdoch dragged his newspapers kicking and screaming from Fleet Street and dumped them unceremoniously in the unassuming Middlesex suburbs. Their research found that the average reporter was filling three times as much space as over twenty years ago. Essentially, that’s just a third of the time to do the same job. Subsequently, journalists have little time to check facts, develop contacts or find a story. With staffing levels cut and media output increased, journalism has been termed ‘churnalism’, a passive process with a focus on the speed of turnover and little else.

The researchers also look at factual statements in the industry’s articles and found evidence as to whether or not the facts been checked. Shockingly, just 12% of the factual stories contained any reliable evidence. 8% of it they couldn’t be sure about and an emphatic 80% was regurgitated second-hand material, such as press releases provided by news agencies and PR machines. But this isn’t the only issue. The need to publish more sensational and outlandish stories is strong in today’s newspapers. In the endless objective to boost sales, editors can reduce themselves to vindictive strategies. Take the Madeleine McCann saga for instance, newspapers profited by running hundreds of articles implicating Kate and Gerry McCann in the disappearance of their daughter. The more sensational the revelations the better as media-fuelled speculation spiralled out of control, unquestionably making the lives of the already troubled family a lot worse.

In this declining press market, promotional stunts and giveaways can now make bigger news than the key story of the day. The Mail on Sunday outsells their tabloid rivals these days, not with groundbreaking stories but by dangling a carrot in front of the customer, coaxing them into the transaction with a promise of a free compilation album or an ageing film on DVD. American columnist and social commentator John Dvorak blames the decline of newspapers on the increasing focus of selling adverts and inserts. He said ‘The truth is that the average newspaper is simply enshrouded in adverts and pullouts. Material we don’t want to sort through, discard or read.’

A trend amongst newspaper is to hire out their tasks to freelances and bloggers rather than training staff members with the required skills. Subsequently, it is rare to find a journalist skilled specifically in one area in today’s industry. Alas, we are reaching the end of the era of conventional reporting. It is not unrealistic to imagine a world without weekday printed papers in the not-so distant future.

Of course, the internet is not without its flaws. The rapid increase in blogs and citizen journalism has sparked a media revolution of ‘junk journalism’. Anybody can publish what they like, without restraint. Yes it is cheaper and faster, but thousands of people shouting past one another and basking in the glory of self-publishing is not a pleasant thought. The media will inevitably fragment and splinter into a thousand websites of anonymous pamphleteers, struggling to be heard over the clamour of many other voices. They will all be financially weaker, and severely lacking the power of an individual media outlet.

So does this mean the journalist’s profession is dead? I would say no. Society and disorientated readers will always need an interpreter to put complex events into context and explained by journalists with the access to the required expertise and resources. If journalism is to survive it will have to evolve, and find new ways of attracting attention. However, nobody can dispute the dangers presented by a new media generation lacking in ethical standards but thriving in the publication of raw, inaccurate information.

Print journalism will always have an audience. Some are opposed to the internet, or prefer the named sources of a newspaper. Many will still want to physically handle their news, tear the pages and bundle their papers into briefcases in the rush to catch the tube. Maybe new media is killing journalism, but technically as long as it is in ‘print’ somewhere, is it really dead?

(UNESCO Student Journalist of the year awards, 2008)

Staff to celebrate ‘City Catering’ excellence

The first City Catering Excellence Awards have been set up in Southampton to recognise the standards that the employees of City Catering have produced on a daily basis. The awards are designed to highlight service excellence and best practise, and are divided into four categories.

Head teachers at Southampton Schools as well as the City Catering management team had the opportunity to nominate the Employee of the Year, the Star Team, the best ‘Bright Idea’ and the General Manager’s award.

The awards will take place on Thursday March 27th at the Holiday Inn. The event runs from 2- 4pm.

Awards Criteria is as follows:

Employee of the year: Attitude, willingness, commitment, team player, appearance, promotion of City Catering, customer care, loyalty.

Star Team: The shortlisted teams were subject to a strict points scoring system that assessed – attitude, willingness, customer care, hygiene audit, quality of food, paperwork efficiency, attendance, uniform, staff turnover.

Bright Idea: All City Catering staff have the opportunity to send in ideas that they think would improve City Catering, this can totally be up to them or the current terms topic that we suggest in our termly staff newsletter. The management team considered all the submissions and voted for which they considered the best.

General Managers Award: For the execution of duties over the past year above and beyond their role.

Suppliers are sponsoring the awards and the winners will receive vouchers, awards, and/or certificates. A photographer will be present on the day.

For more information email Diane Smith at diane.smith@southampton.gov.uk

(Southampton City Council Press Release, 2008)

Titanic talk is a unique gift of history

In a rare talk, Southampton City Council has organised a very special event with Millvina Dean, the only remaining survivor of the Titanic disaster. On April 11 at The Turner Sims concert hall, the talk will form part of a programme of events in Southampton to remember the fateful event.

Millvina Dean, the last Titanic survivor, was only 9 weeks old when she left Southampton with her parents aboard the Titanic. Millvina, her mother and brother survived the disaster on the fateful night in April 1912.
The council’s Oral History Manager, Sheila Jemima, author of Titanic Voices, will be discussing with her how the Titanic disaster has shaped her life.

Council Hannides, Southampton City Council’s cabinet member for Leisure and Culture said, “This is such an amazing event for Southampton to be hosting. It is a rare opportunity to hear Millvina talk and has international appeal. This is going to be a really special evening where Millvina will tell 96 years of stories and is a must for anyone with an interest in the 20th century and the Titanic”

The event runs from 7.30 to 9.30pm and admissions are £15 per person although concessions are available. Parking is available in the University car parks after 5pm. The Turner Sims Concert Hall is located in the gardens of the University of Southampton’s Highfield Campus, set back from University Road between the Nuffield Theatre and John Hansard Gallery.

For further information visit: http://www.titaniccities.org.uk/ or www.turnersims.co.uk

Alternatively, contact: 023 80 59 5151 to book tickets email: boxoffice@turnersims.co.uk

(Southampton City Council Press Release, 2008)

Archives allow public to trace ancestral roots

A free exhibition giving members of the public an opportunity to trace their family history will be available outside the Council Chambers. The year-long display draws from the collections of the city archives and will be officially opened by the Mayor of Southampton Councillor Stephen Barnes-Andrews at the end of March.

The exhibition, which is made up of single panels, has been designed to allow each to be displayed individually after the closure date in March 2009. The exhibit follows a similar format to popular TV programme, ‘Who do you think you are’, whereby each panel features an occupation and highlights the resources necessary to research people with that particular occupation.

Within the archives there are a great number of records available, and hundreds of possible occupations to explore. A story appears on each panel revealing details of the lives of Sea merchants, shopkeepers and many more. The featured Mayor is Percy Bowyer who held the post in 1926. Photographs from his year in office are also on display. Another feature is a criminal and ex councillor from the 1880’s who was convicted of fraud.

2008 marks the 100 year anniversary of the end of the First World War, to commemorate this letters between a French soldier and his Southampton pen pal will be on view.

The exhibition is located outside the Council Chamber in the south block of the Civic Centre and is free of charge. It will be opened at 10am on March 31st and runs until March 2009.

For further details please contact Jo Smith on (023) 8083 2252 or e-mail jo.smith@southampton.gov.uk

Alternatively, contact 023 8083 2251or email city.archives@southampton.gov.uk

(Southampton City Council Press Release, 2008)

Thornhill's Jim Dowdall receives MBE

A local stalwart and active charity worker has received an MBE in the New Year’s honours list in recognition of his lifetime achievements. Thornhill’s Jim Dowdall, 82, will celebrate the award with a presentation from Southampton mayor Councillor Stephen Barnes-Andrews. Jim’s accomplishments include raising £1000’s for various local charities and running an incredible 5 London Marathons!

Despite suffering a stroke while caring for his wife over a decade ago, Jim has recovered to play an active part in community projects in his local area. As well as providing inspiration for others recovering from a stroke, the MBE honours Jim’s position as a role model for senior citizens.

The coveted accolade is a testament to Jim’s efforts in raising awareness of the benefits of local health and promoting wellbeing projects in the area. He has worked tirelessly for regional initiatives such as ‘Thornhill plus you’ and the ‘Healthy communities Project’. Based at the ‘Healthier Thornhill’ Centre in the scheme organises groups and activities to help residents improve their health and well-being.

Jim said, ‘I am delighted that the MBE will be acknowledged by the Mayor and it’s a real honour for me. I certainly want to continue being involved with the projects in Thornhill, it’s a good cause and I believe it really makes a difference.’

For more information contact Dave Shields, the Strategic Services Manager for the Communities, Health and Care directorate on 023 8083 2947.

Alternatively, email him at dave.shields@southampton.gov.uk.

(Southampton City Council 'City View' Magazine, 2008)

Southampton launches National Year of Reading

Southampton’s Marlands Shopping Centre will host the official launch of the National Year of Reading in the city. The event runs between 10 and 4pm on Wednesday April 14th. As well as a handful of competitions and prizes, there is a chance to hear a professional storyteller, meet BBC South’s Sally Taylor and have a unique opportunity to visit a ‘book doctor’.

Between April and December local residents can participate in a range of events and activities aimed to promote and celebrating reading across Southampton. The scheme provides an opportunity for all ages to get engaged with reading and aims to boost the profile of reading in the region.

With the assistance of local businesses, the city’s libraries are offering special book promotions, story times, rhyme times and children’s activities. Over the nine month period Southampton will celebrate a diverse range of literature through a series of monthly themes spanning from local journalism and traditional storytelling, to film and television scripts.

The project has drawn a number of writers and poets who will be visiting the city to contribute advice to aspiring authors and talk about their own experiences. Local novelist Daniel Clay, Crime writer Mo Hayder and poet Wendy Cope are amongst those who will be getting involved.

Southampton Council Officials are hoping the National Year of Reading will increase the number of people using the area’s libraries as well as improving literary rates and educational opportunities. To help raise awareness a series of initiatives have been introduced. These include online book reviews and forums on local library websites and discounted prices at High Street booksellers such as ‘Waterstones’.

A council spokesperson praised the scheme saying, ‘National Year of Reading will offer many opportunities and activities so that children and adult learners in Southampton understand the benefits that reading for pleasure can bring to their lives.’

‘The scheme will allow the people of Southampton to use reading as a way to explore cultural and local identities, promote life-long learning and experience the wealth of resources available in our libraries’.

For more information please contact Allison Kirby at the Central Library or Tel: 023 8083 3304 or email allison.kirby@southampton.gov.uk

Alternatively, visit the website at http://www.southamptonreadingcity.org.uk/

(Southampton City Council Press Release, 2008)

Steyning Town 2 - 2 Broadbridge Heath

Manager Mark Dalgleish bemoaned the number of scoring opportunities spurned as Steyning toiled for a point in difficult conditions. Dalgleish questioned the attitude of his players and rued two defensive errors which cost his side dear. ‘People need to take a look at themselves, the conditions weren’t easy but we made life difficult with some bad decisions.’ Striker Nick Green spared Steyning’s blushes with a late headed equaliser after lowly Broadbridge Heath had taken a shock second half lead. The result does no favours for local rivals Lancing and Southwick who remain in a relegation dogfight.

Steyning struck inside five minutes when Pickford nodded his 5th goal of the season after good work from Simon Price. The home side dealt with the boggy conditions well, and were unfortunate not to be further ahead after dominating first half proceedings. Top scorer Chris Duffet went close with a fizzing half volley and Ben Garman forced a good save out of opposition goalkeeper Matt Baker.

However, almost immediately after the restart, Steyning were made to pay for their wasteful play in front of goal. Heath Captain Warren Sweatman crashed home a 20 yard volley and moments later Peter Sweet directed his strike through a crowd of bodies to give Broadbridge an unlikely lead.

Dalgleish opted for an attacking 4-3-3 formation and sent on Armando Tavelera. This nearly paid dividends when the plucky striker saw his angled effort roll agonisingly wide of the post. Duffet rattled the crossbar with a close range header and the excellent Lee Waterhouse saw his drive well saved. In the dying minutes, Nick Green secured a deserved draw with a neat finish at the back post.

(Worthing Herald, 2008)

Interview with Oberthur Card Systems

Oberthur Card Systems are frontrunners in the field of secure technologies and boast a commercial presence across all five continents. After announcing sales of over 700 million euros last year, The Company confirmed its progression with good performances across the marker and innovative solutions. Oberthur is leading the way in introducing unique methods of mobile payment and the further implementation of NFC. I spoke to the company to find out how they were intending to build on their success in 2008.

It was a strong year for Oberthur with a 14% increase in sales. To what do you attribute this growth?
In 2007, Oberthur Technologies broke new records in terms of volumes and revenue. Sales grew 14% on 2006 to €733.4 million. Former Oberthur Card Systems reported €591.4 million of sales. This card activity outperformed the market reporting a 13% increase in revenue. Microprocessor card sales volumes grew 45% with 385 million units delivered. Given a slightly easier competitive environment, the decrease in sales prices slowed throughout the year. Microprocessor card 2007 revenue grew 22% to €411 million.

In particular, how did the banking and SIM markets fare ?
The banking segment benefited from a pick-up in France and the United Kingdom, two of its key markets. Revenue in personalization services is stable. The company has continued to expand geographically with 6 new personalization centres that will pay off in 2008. As a whole this segment contributed €286.7 million or 49% of Card Systems’ total revenue in 2007.

In mobile communications, SIM card revenue grew 22% to €223 million in 2007, with 248 million units sold, or a 48% increase in volume terms. Integration of I’M Technologies products bolstered growth in emerging countries. Furthermore, the product mix continued to improve boosted by migrations to higher-end products in both Europe and emerging countries. As a result of this improved product mix and less pressure on prices, the decrease in the average sales price has stabilized.

The mobile communications segment as a whole (SIM cards, Scratch cards, Services & packaging) generated revenue of €243 million, contributing 41% of Card Systems’ total revenue in 2007. Like the rest of the industry, sales in Identity & Security were slower than expected, with almost stable revenue up just 2%. Demand in pay-TV was sustained but several identity programs have been delayed.

Also, I would like to add Fiduciary & Cash Protection. These two recently contributed businesses have reported a 17% increase in 2007 revenue. Oberthur Cash Protection revenue is still small and was stable this year. It was generated by existing contracts in France and Belgium. Fiduciary reported a remarkable 21% increase in 2007 revenue, boosted by production from a new banknote printing line set up in 2006.

The combination of Oberthur and XPonCard will create a highly competitive player in the ongoing industry consolidation. How will the two companies complement one another?
The combination of Oberthur and XPonCard will create the second largest player in the global smart card industry with sales in the order of 735 million Euros and a highly competitive player in the ongoing industry consolidation.

Geographically, Oberthur and XPonCard complement each other in Europe in the banking and loyalty card segment. As the regional market leader XPonCard provides an outstanding sales, service and personalisation infrastructure in the Nordics, the Baltic’s and Poland to complement Oberthur’s extensive network throughout the rest of Europe. Outside of Europe, the combined resources will add scale and critical mass.

The transaction will specifically enable XPonCard to successfully face the ongoing globalisation of both its customers (financial institutions and mobile operators) and their markets that require a global presence, and take advantage of Oberthur’s product portfolio, and important Research & Development resources

Oberthur has developed proprietary solutions and is considered to be among the technology leaders in the industry. The opportunity for XPonCard to leverage of Oberthur’s technology will result in significant savings in technology and product costs. Further synergies are expected within purchasing, manufacturing, financial resources and administrative costs. The combined entity will have a strong position to better serve both existing and new customers.

The NFC mobile kiosk is the first fully integrated NFC multiplications service. How much of a substantial breakthrough is this for the NFC market?
Our NFC mobile kiosk allows customers to select their purchases in a menu displayed on their mobile phone and order them directly by waving the mobile in front of the reader linked to a cashbox. Still using NFC, they can also get a coupon, for a free item and pay their purchases. Thus, it shows how much convenience NFC will bring in our every day life with a multiple of possible applications and very limited actions required from the customer. Moreover, our demonstrator, because it embeds multiple applications in an integrated way, is also the proof that NFC is now a mature technology ready to be deployed for customers all over the world”.

FlyBuy duo won a Sesame award at the Cartes show 2007. What are the benefits of the application to banks and mobile operators?
FlyBuy Duo is a very innovative solution for NFC: two chips, a SIM chip and a payment chip, are linked together and embedded in a standard SIM plug-in. Moreover, it is in accordance with all NFC standards.

From the beginning, FlyBuy Duo was designed to meet at the same time banks’ and operators’ needs for NFC Mobile Payment. On the one hand, banks have in their market strong requirements on certification. That’s why FlyBuy Duo is the only NFC SIM that can pass the most restricting certification schemes of the banking market. On the other hand, operators need their fast-changing environment to preserve flexibility and short Time-To-Market. Thanks to its unique architecture, FlyBuy Duo is the only existing solution able to answer simultaneously those expectations and banks certification requirements.

Oberthur also received a Sesame award for ‘Cardblade’. How far do these accolades confirm your leadership in the market?
We invest in Research and Development to improve our technologies and enhance the solutions proposed to our customers. We want to be at the cutting edge of innovation and anticipate the future demands of our customers.

With advanced technology and a strong expertise in security, Oberthur Technologies is always at the forefront of the industry, providing the best of technology and services.
We are always searching for excellence, efficiency and local relationships to design new products, to develop pilots and to be close to our clients. We constantly find new resources to improve process and product quality. We are continually developing our presence around the world, working as a team in each project to meet our customers' requirements and expectations, to support them and to implement pilots.

We are committed to deliver solutions that fully address customers' needs, and offer a wide range of custom services based on leading edge products as complete solutions, combining functionality and usability. With teams around the world working to maintain a high-end positioning and provide customized solutions on a daily basis, Oberthur Technologies shapes the future.

Oberthur has been selected as one of the companies to introduce NFC to France. What role will your company play in the project?
Oberthur is one of the world’s leading suppliers of payment cards and personalization services for banks and financial institutions. In the mobile sector, we offer USIM cards as well as a comprehensive solution to personalize and manage these cards. Oberthur has been a pioneer in the creation of integrated and converged technologies. The development of SIM cards with in-built payment applications, and the fusion of personalization services with an OTA solution are just two of our current initiatives to fully enable secure mobile banking technology as it launches globally. The Oberthur SIM cards supplied today are among the most advanced mobile payment applications on the market, and allow secure storage and personalization of payment applications.

The mobile payment personalization solution is based on Oberthur’s proven card payment personalization solution - already used by thousands of banks around the world. Our TSM offer is based on this new OTA system. As a total package, Oberthur supplies both the hardware - the SIM complete with secure elements and applications – as well as providing the payment infrastructure – to enable issuance and management of the payment application. We also help both banks and mobile operators refine their specifications with the overall objective being to define an overall standard for NFC mobile payment.

Tell us about Payez Mobile and what it offers?
For instance, in the “Payez Mobile” pilot, it is the first time that operators and banks along with key industrial players gather with the purpose to define a standard as global as possible for NFC payment. In this context, it was very important for Oberthur Technologies to play a major role in the project and bring all our know-how acquired in both mobile and banking domains.

In “Payez Mobile”, we offered three key deliverables. We designed NFC SIM especially for the needs of the project: based on our standard SIM, their architecture has been enriched with features dedicated to NFC such as application selection and user interface. Then, our OTA (Over-The-Air) platform manages the content of SIMs to install or to block banking applications for example. Finally, Oberthur Technologies also provides banks with personalization services: banks send us customers’ data that we process and encrypt, then, send to the OTA platform to install securely the right banking application with the right data in the right SIM”.

Identity fraud and computer security breaches are on the rise. Is this a problem area that Oberthur are paying particular attention too?
Yes, our Identity Product Line addresses these two issues. Fighting the “traditional” identity fraud - based on faked or tempered physical ID documents - is of course the historical activity of the company. And for several years now, we have been working at transferring all physical security features used on paper-based ID documents into every plastic support we use for smart card manufacturing.

Now, let’s consider your question only from a digital world perspective. If you look closer at these two issues, most of the time you will find out that they share the same root cause: weak authentication procedures based solely on user names and passwords. We offer hardware and software solutions to make the presence of a smart card or of a smart USB device mandatory when authentication of a user occurs. For the vast majority of applications, this added layer of security is sufficient to eradicate these frauds and attacks. And for securing access to mission critical applications or extremely sensitive data, our fingerprint match-on-card solution can offer a third layer of security.

Oberthur has been successful across Europe and Asia. Geographically, are there particular markets that interest you in 2008?
Historically, Oberthur is particularly strong in Europe and North America. Recently we have strengthened our position in Asia commercially and industrially in China & India. Last year we acquired I’M Technologies, a Singaporean company.
Oberthur is interested in all countries where secure technologies are spreading. Our strategy is to grow faster than the market. And that is what we have achieved in 2007.

Oberthur is the largest producer of contactless cards in the USA. Do you predict that microprocessor chip cards will take off in the near future?

The microprocessor chip is already taking hold in the United States. In fact, according to a July 2007 Jupiter Research report, microprocessor chip cards are likely to be in more than 75 million American wallets or cell phones before the end of 2008 and more than 128 million will be in circulation by 2009. Our customers using the contactless cards and those in pilot programs have really solidified our commitment to contactless. Based on projected orders with our clients, we anticipate double-digit growth in the next six to nine months for our payment markets”.

(Smartcard News Ltd, 2008)

Southampton celebrates Chinese New Year

Whilst many of us are still recovering from our own New Year celebrations, Southampton City Council and the Chinese Association clubbed together with the Waterside Dragon dance club to transform the city centre into a bustling oriental carnival this weekend. The 10th of February marked the arrival of the Chinese New year, and the City of Southampton celebrated in style staging a variety of events to commemorate the Year of the Rat.

The event began at the Civic Centre when the Mayor of Southampton performed ‘Dim Jing’. This is a traditional ceremony whereby the eyes of the dragon are dotted. The ritual welcomes a prosperous new year to all. We were then entertained with an array of Chinese dancing and martial arts displays which delighted the impressive number of onlookers. Finally, a spectacular firecrackers display signalled the beginning of the parade through the High Street.

The procession was a cacophony of colour, and the route passed several Chinese landmarks in the city such as a number of restaurants and the Asian market staged specially for the day in Bargate. The market boasted stalls selling Chinese delicacies and cuisines from across the region, as well as oriental themed gifts and ornaments.

The Dragon Parade eventually finished at Leisure world after crowds had lined up along the pavements of both the High Street and West Quay Road applauding the spectacle and appreciating the skill and effort of all involved.

(Southampton Directory, 2008)

Student Brakeaway 2008

August 31st marks the beginning of the student gumball rally, and over 150 teams made up of 500 students will embark on a six-day motoring adventure across Europe. The 1500 mile journey snakes through five countries, eventually ending in Croatia. Drawing inspiration from the original Gumball rally, the student alternative is similar, although with the added spice of copious amounts of alcohol and parties!

The event begins at Dover, where registration and paperwork is sorted for each team. Rules include a minimum of two legal drivers, and only one car per team. The maximum number per team is 5 and two of these must be in full time University education. First stop is Antwerp. Although famous for its chocolate, the Belgian town also boasts some of the wildest nightlife in Northern Europe. A gruelling 10 hour alpine drive through Switzerland follows. The route then passes through Jesolo, the beach party capital of Italy, before a pleasant jaunt through picturesque Slovenia. Finally, Croatia plays host to the finale of the rally, with the mother of all parties in Medulin and the lure of a £1000 prize. It is interesting to note that the winners are not necessarily those who cross the line first, but those who show extraordinary effort, or positive team spirit.

The exploits of the six days will be both draining and exhilarating. The experience of completing the Student Brakeaway is sure to live long in the memory. To find out more about how to enter, go to http://www.studentbrakeaway.com/.

(UK Student News, 2008)