Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has today launched a new competition to encourage and support the next generation of female cricket broadcasting talent.
Together with Sky Sports and leading cricket charity Take Her Lead, MCC’s Young Female Broadcaster of the Year initiative aims to increase opportunities for young women looking to forge a career in the cricket media, specifically in broadcasting, and follows the huge growth in the women’s game including record-breaking attendances and TV audiences for last summer’s England v Australia Ashes series.
The competition is aimed at budding female cricket broadcasters, aged between 18-24, looking to take their first steps in the industry with entries to be via submission of video or audio showreel of a match commentary, match report, or a presenter clip.
A judging panel made up of representatives from MCC, Sky Sports, current broadcasters, and chaired by Isa Guha on behalf of Take Her Lead, will choose a winner and five shortlisted runners-up who will be invited to Lord’s for England’s Metro Bank Women’s T20 International against New Zealand on Wednesday 17 July. During the day they will be invited to meet the Sky and BBC teams working on the live match coverage.
The winner will then be invited back to spend the day at the iconic J.P. Morgan Media Centre at Lord’s, which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary, and be part of the Sky Sports team for their live broadcast coverage of The Hundred Final at Lord’s on Sunday 18 August. They will also get the opportunity to undertake training with Sky Sports and Take Her Lead ahead of The Hundred Final.
The competition will bring together three organisations who are committed to improving gender equality and inclusivity in cricket and sport. MCC, through the MCC Foundation Hubs programme is helping to increase girls’ participation in cricket with nearly 1500 girls taking part in this year’s programme (an increase from 940 in 2023). Sky Sports has an unrivalled range of women’s sport and, in 2023, was the home of? over 70% of all televised women’s sport. Sky Sports are also proud to partner and work closely with both the Women’s Sport Collective and Women in Football – external networks that champion and support women working in sport.
Take Her Lead was established in 2022 by broadcaster and former England cricketer Isa Guha and aims to advance equity and inclusion, and increase participation in all areas of the game, for women and girls.
The new initiative follows recent data from the NCTJ (National Council for Training of Journalists), the leading training scheme and qualifications provider for journalists in the UK, highlighting the continued underrepresentation of females in journalism and sports journalism. Their latest Diversity in Journalism survey reported that 59% of journalists were male, the highest proportion since the survey began in 2020. The most recent data on students registered for NCTJ sports journalism courses for the 2023/24 academic year shows that only 20% are female.
Katie Maier, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at MCC, said: “We are delighted to be working with Sky Sports and Take Her Lead to help increase opportunities for young women to develop careers in cricket, and in particular broadcasting, through this initiative. It’s an amazing opportunity for someone to spend a day in the J.P. Morgan Media Centre and gain valuable experience direct from a world-leading sports broadcasting team.”
“It’s important that the huge growth that we’ve seen in the women’s game including here at MCC and Lord’s is reflected in the opportunities across the industry for women. Everyone in the sport has their part to play in making this happen.”
Isa Guha, Founder of Take Her Lead, said: “This campaign is really important in both acknowledging and highlighting the under-representation of females in sports broadcasting as well as offering support and encouragement to young women who want to thrive in the industry. At Take Her Lead, our goal is to help women and girls participate in cricket, in all forms, through amplifying her voice, connecting across the cricket community and empowering through role models and education. I look forward to seeing the talent that comes through this competition and supporting those we can through Take Her Lead initiatives. If you have ambition, broadcasting talent and passion for cricket – apply now!”
Bryan Henderson, Head of Sky Sports, said: “We are thrilled to partner with Take Her Lead on MCC’s Young Female Broadcaster of the Year initiative to support the future stars of cricket broadcasting. Sky Sports covers an unrivalled range of women’s sport and has proudly covered women’s cricket since 1996, helping the sport to continue to grow and thrive. We’re committed to increasing opportunities for women taking their first steps within the broadcast industry and look forward to the winner joining our broadcast team for The Hundred Final at Lord’s.”
For more information and to enter the competition, visit www.lords.org/broadcaster. The closing date for entries is midday on Thursday 27 June 2024.
With thanks to the MCC
