Journalism students step into industry roles at this year’s Boardmasters festival
18 August 2025
Two of Falmouth’s Journalism & Creative Writing BA students got the chance to report live updates from this year’s Boardmasters, the largest surf and music festival in Cornwall. The exciting opportunity came to fruition after Cornwall Live approached Falmouth University for support on reporting the festival’s weekend news.
The selected students, Tia Boddey and Danielle Hutchinson, were tasked with producing engaging digital content for Cornwall Live from the festival’s press and media tent, keeping their audience updated with the latest updates from the event. In just two short days, they published eight byline articles, countless live blog posts, and had 70 of their photos and videos used across Cornwall Live’s website and social media. They wrote stories that covered everything from artist performances, to nightlife, safety and what’s for breakfast at the festival.
Danielle, who graduated this summer, said of the experience: “The weekend offered a brilliant opportunity to network with local media and PR organisations, as well as give me further experience of live reporting.
“I’m incredibly grateful that Falmouth are still able to share these opportunities with me and I was thrilled when I returned from Boardmasters to find that my degree certificate had arrived in the post!”
Tia, who has just finished her second year on Falmouth’s Journalism & Creative Writing BA, added: “Music is one of my biggest passions, so getting this opportunity meant that I could gain experience in music journalism and concert photography, which has really boosted my confidence and shown me that a career in the music industry is possible for me.”
Course Leader Andy Chatfield shared: “Covering a music and surfing festival is definitely one of the cooler assignments a journalist might be given, but doing it properly is still hard work. I am hugely grateful to Cornwall Live’s Content Editor John Bett and the wider team for trusting us to find them reliable reporters and very proud, though not surprised, that Danielle and Tia made such a good job of it.”
On reviewing the content after the festival, the team at Cornwall Live noticed how the reporters' final story – a vox pop on what revellers enjoyed and what they would change – received over 8,000 page views and was read for over 5,418 minutes, an impressive set of statistics.
Reflecting on the quality of Danielle and Tia’s work, John Bett said: “They far surpassed our expectations. Their enthusiasm and professional nature are a credit to the journalism training they received at Falmouth University. They will both go far in the industry, I’m sure.”
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