In this special bonus episode Lily and Emma sit down to do an annual appraisal together. They discuss what went well over the past year and what their ambitions are for 2026. They also scrub out previous goals and chat about what is important to them in the short and long term going forward.

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Our previous appraisal episodes:

2021: https://freelancing-for-journalists.captivate.fm/episode/how-to-appraise-yourself

2022: https://freelancing-for-journalists.captivate.fm/episode/how-to-appraise-yourself-part2

2024: https://freelancingforjournalists.substack.com/p/time-for-a-self-appraisal

Today we speak to the winner of Best Investigation at the Freelance Journalism Awards 2025. Will Coldwell's investigation into the death of an offshore worker raised important questions about industry safety and was highlighted by judges as a significance piece of freelance work. Will discussed how to win the trust of sources when reporting sensitive subjects and how to craft long reads to keep the reader engaged to the very end.

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Guest

willcoldwell.com

@willcoldwell.bsky.social

https://www.economist.com/1843/2021/09/22/petrol-pints-and-pasta-meet-one-of-the-lorry-drivers-plugging-britains-shortages

We are kick starting the New Year with a fascinating discussion with Harriet Grant, winner of Best Feature in the 2025 Freelance Journalism Awards. Harriet impressed judges with her deep dive into the impact of porn algorithms on men. In today's episode she explains how she tackles issues of online child abuse as a freelance journalist and the ethical and legal issues she has to grabble with.

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Guest

Harriet Grant https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriet-grant-5a797b25/

Resources

Harriet’s deep dive into the impact of porn algorithms on young people was praised for its research and persistence

Safer Lives https://www.saferlives.com/

Just in time for New Year's Eve we speak to freelance English wine writer Rebecca Pitcairn. A regional journalist turned wine writer, Rebecca was winner of Best Specialist at the Freelance Journalism Awards 2025. She explains how to develop a niche, within a niche and the benefit of hosting your own podcast series.

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Guest

Rebecca Pitcairn https://www.instagram.com/theenglishwinediaries/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-pitcairn-a0546127/

Resources

Rebecca impressed judges with her passion and quality reporting on the UK’s wine industry. She also hosts “The English Wine Diaries” podcast.

Today we speak to Yvette Cook who was winner of Best Early Career Journalist at the Freelance Journalism Awards 2025. Yvette, a former civil servant, has made a successful shift into travel writing, and is loving her new career. She is brimming with enthusiasm and great advice, including how she secured her award-winning feature on tourism and women in Saudi Arabia.

Get your free portfolio today. We also have a special offer for our FFJ community. Sign up via the link above to any paid plan for 20% off for the first year!

Guest

Yvette Cook https://www.instagram.com/yvette.travels/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvette-cook-09929b2a7/

Resources

Yvette’s evocative piece on tourism and women in Saudi Arabia inspired her own career change

Adventure Travel Networking https://www.adventuretravelnetworking.com/

On the podcast today we talk to the first of our Freelance Journalism Awards winners from 2025. Hannah Fearn won Best News Story and Best Opinion Writer for her work on social affairs. In this episode she talks about how she investigated a report from inside a children's prison. She also shares her invaluable tips on how to pitch to opinion desks.

Get your free portfolio today. We also have a special offer for our FFJ community. Sign up via the link above to any paid plan for 20% off for the first year!

Guest

Hannah Fearn https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahfearn/

Bluesky @hannahfearn.bsky.social

Resources

Hannah’s powerful story on lockdown in child prisons stood out for its impact and writing

Hannah’s columns on social affairs were called “well-researched and passionately argued”

Freelance rights guide https://www.womeninjournalism.co.uk/guidelines/oldo7g1jr7say9zn95edt9agt3kviw

Inside Housing https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/

Health Service Journal https://www.hsj.co.uk/

In this special bonus episode we chat to Martin Hickman the director of Canbury Press. The independent publisher specialises in working with journalists and publishes a range of non-fiction books. Canbury Press championed Ultra Women: The Trailblazers Defying Sexism in Sport - the book written by podcast hosts Lily Canter and Emma Wilkinson. In this episode Martin shares trade secrets on how to impress a publisher and what he is looking for from journalists.

Resources

Canbury Press

Tik Took Boom! by Chris Stokel-Walker

Ultra Women by Lily Canter and Emma Wilkinson

In the podcast today we dig into the hot topic of using AI as a journalist. We have expert advice from AI Media trainer Harriet Meyer and award-winning freelance health journalist Rosie Taylor. We talk about AI generated content, whether the robots are coming to take our jobs and how to use AI to your advantage. It's a meaty episode!

Get your free portfolio today. We also have a special offer for our FFJ community. Sign up via the link above to any paid plan for 20% off for the first year!

Guests

Harriet Meyer https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriet-meyer-63508b40/

AI for Media newsletter https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/ai-for-media-7304783376857587712/

Rosie Taylor https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosietaylor/

Get Featured Substack https://rosietaylor.substack.com/

Resources

ChatGPT

Otter.ai

Perplexity

Claude

Notebook LM

Google Gemini

Fathom

AI for Media course with Harriet Meyer https://www.harrietmeyer.com/ai-courses/

Recommendations

https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/digital-journalism/virtual-reality-the-widely-quoted-media-experts-who-are-not-what-they-seem/

Adele Waters award-winning freelance journalist

In the podcast today we talk to two experts about transcriptions apps. How, where and why to use them, and what some of the pitfalls may be. Sage Lazzaro a freelance tech journalist shares her tips on getting the best out of Otter.ai while Jack Dearlove explains why he developed a transcription tool for Journo Resources.

Get your free portfolio today. We also have a special offer for our FFJ community. Sign up via the link above to any paid plan for 20% off for the first year!

Guests

Sage Lazzaro https://www.linkedin.com/in/sage-lazzaro/

Jack Dearlove, Journo Resources https://www.journoresources.org.uk/

Resources

JR Transcribe https://www.journoresources.org.uk/membership/jr-transcribe/

Otter.ai https://otter.ai/home

Trint https://trint.com/

Whisper https://www.whispertranscribe.com/download

Descript https://www.descript.com/

Recommendations

Francis Cade https://www.youtube.com/c/FrancisCade

Tekendra Parmar https://www.motherjones.com/criminal-justice/2025/08/axon-police-ai-draft-one-foia/

This week we have two returning guests to talk all about the new best practice guidelines for editors working with freelancers. These vital guidelines are a benchmark for freelance journalists to use when discussing rates of pay, contracts, briefs and more, with commissioning editors. Donna Ferguson from Women in Journalism and Jem Collins of Journo Resources discuss the best way to use the guidelines to ensure fair treatment.

Get your free portfolio today. We also have a special offer for our FFJ community. Sign up via the link above to any paid plan for 20% off for the first year!

The Guests

https://muckrack.com/donna-ferguson/bio

https://www.womeninjournalism.co.uk/

https://www.jemcollins.co.uk/

https://www.journoresources.org.uk/

Resources

The guidelines: https://www.womeninjournalism.co.uk/guidelines/oldo7g1jr7say9zn95edt9agt3kviw

Late Payments government consultation: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/late-payments-tackling-poor-payment-practices/late-payments-consultation-tackling-poor-payment-practices

Women in Journalism contact details: https://www.womeninjournalism.co.uk/contactus

Recommendations

https://blackballad.co.uk/politics-activism/what-happened-to-all-the-black-tories?listIds=590867cea8c0bab2039c3ac5

https://www.womeninjournalism.co.uk/events-diary/how-journalists-are-using-ai-with-harriet-meyer