Final year sports journalism student Molly Hudson has been shortlisted for Football Writer of the Year by the Sports Journalists’ Association. Molly, 20, has been encouraged to work freelance during her university studies and spent last summer working on the World Cup for the Independent.

She now writes regularly for The Times and the BBC Sport website and will be covering the Women’s World Cup in France later this year.

Molly said: “I am absolutely overwhelmed to be shortlisted for such a prestigious award, alongside many of the sports journalists that I continue to learn from and admire. The Times have supported me, and believed in me to put me forward for the award, which was an honour in itself, and I could not have built the close relationship I have with them without the help of Staffordshire University, particularly Mitch Pryce and Ian Whittell and the depth of contacts they have from years of experience in the industry.”

“It can be hard to juggle working as a freelancer in such a pressured, and high-paced field, but the lecturers at Staffs have gone out of their way to ensure I can commit time to my uni work as well as my career and maybe even have a bit of free time too!”

Molly’s course leader Mitch Pryce said: “It’s an astonishing achievement for Molly to be recognised at this level. The SJA also have a Young Sports Journalist of the Year category but Molly has leapfrogged a level into the main award. She’s competing against the likes of Henry Winter and Jonathan Liew – genuine heavyweight professional journalists”

“It’s yet another example of Staffordshire sports journalists making a real impact in the industry. Last year our alumni were named Midlands Sports Journalist (Lewis Cox) and Welsh Sports Journalist of the Year (Ben James) so Molly is adding to our legacy. We are all very proud of her.”