Journalism student Kirstin lands a place at STV

LOCAL journalism student Kirstin Tait has landed herself a stint with STV after scooping the top award in her class.

Twenty-one-year-old Kirstin, of High Street, Keiss, was presented with the certificate at a recent prize-giving at Robert Gordon University's School of Creative and Cultural Business by former RGU graduate Ben Philip of STV.

She said: "I didn't expect to get it out of everyone in the year – all my friends did so well. I was very excited when I got the email."

Kirstin had met the journalist/presenter Ben Philip before and worked with him on a couple of projects.

Last year she did a podcast on the unsolved disappearance of Inverness woman Renee MacRae and her young son and thinks that may have helped her clinch the award for the 2019 best third-year student in the BA (Hons) Journalism course at RGU.

"I am very interested in true crime and wanted to do something closer to home," Kirstin said. Her podcast, which was a course project, gained a lot of positive feedback.

A fresh murder inquiry into the disappearance of Mrs MacRae and her three-year-old son Andrew was launched in June, with bones and parts of a pushchair found after Leanach quarry, near Inverness, was drained as part of the investigation. The mother and son left their home in Cradlehall in November 1976 and were never seen again.

Kirstin, who will be going into her final year at the end of the summer holidays, will take part in a one-week placement with STV – the sponsor of the award – in November. During her time with the TV company she hopes to be going out and about working on stories, as well as interviewing people and getting some practice speaking on air.

"One of my friends went to STV for her placement and said they loved it and learnt so much," she added.

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