We are the University of York’s student newspaper, York Vision.
For years, we have been the training ground for many of the country’s most successful journalists, with alumni going on to work at a range of national news and media outlets.
Uniquely a newsprint-first media group in a digital age, we print multiple times each semester, and our paper consists of 32-pages including News, Features, Opinion, Columns, Environment, Science and Lifestyle, as well as SCENE, our 12-page arts and culture pull-out. SCENE includes Screen, Stage, Music, Spotlight, Art, Literature, Food, and Games.
We also offer special coverage of Roses, York’s annual sports competition against Lancaster University and the YUSU elections, depending on the year.
Our print culture is hugely important to us, as it ensures we maintain high editorial standards, learn about the legacy of newsprint and how newspapers are made, and that we value our journalism and journalists enough to put their work (and names) in physical form.
That being said, we are also adapting to the times changing, and always looking ahead to the future. We publish online on our website, and on our social media pages, engaging with new technologies to ensure York Vision remains the best newspaper at the University of York, and maintains its national reputation as a place where journalists of the future are made.
York Vision is a registered society of, and is part-funded by, the University of York Students’ Union. Our membership fee is £4, as we are committed to being as accessible as possible to every student at the University.
We are run by our committee, elected each year at the Annual General Meeting (AGM).
The current committee for 2024-25 are as follows:
- Charlotte Ambrose (Editor President)
- Audrey Lawler (Editor Secretary)
- Eleanor Shaw (Deputy Editor)
- Aoife Wood (Social Secretary)
- Eddie Atkinson (Managing Director)
- Clara Downes (SCENE Editor)
York Vision also has elected and appointed editorial roles for each section of our paper.
Our History
Founded in 1987 by Mark Watts, Vision became an instant success at York, being dubbed a “campus revolution” despite the first edition being just eight pages long.
York Vision quickly became known for its exclusive news stories, interviews and anarchic humour, as opposed to its campus rival, Nouse.
In its adolescence, York Vision became the premier student publication in the country, winning the Guardian Student Publication of the Year Award six times, a record. These wins also included an unprecedented three consecutive victories between 2002-2004.
This success continue into the late 2010s, with York Vision pipping Nouse to win their sixth Guardian Student Publication of the Year Award in 2014 and Abbie Llewelyn and Huw James receiving gongs at the new Student Publication Association Awards in 2017.
The paper fell upon hard times during the years following this success with a myriad of mismanagement in 2018 resulting in the paper ceasing to publish until the 2019/20 with doubts cast over the paper’s long-term future.
A new committee was elected in April 2019 under the editorship of Harry Clay and Chay Quinn who set about trying to reform the society and ensure its long-term health in order to make sure that York students had access to multiple news sources on campus.
This committee led Vision to be included on four shortlists at the Student Publication Association Awards in 2020, including its first nod for any ‘Best Publication’ award in four years because of its leading coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak in York during January 2020.
Our Governing Documents and Editorial Codes of Conduct
These are our governing documents and the editorial codes by which we abide.