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Owen Frost Candidate Statement

ACCESS

Access to more stories that forefront student issues on the homepage. Discounts in The Gryphon for bars/venues such as Old Bar and Common Ground inside its pages.


Keep the website up to date with student views on university life and opinion online.
Increased visibility of The Gryphon on campus, with promoting more of wide range of students’ work.
Society Spotlight with regular spaces for students to have themselves in print.

ARTS:

Students want more opportunities to build strong portfolios in a time when arts are less and less appreciated as well as news about local arts and events spaces.

Create an opt-in ability to have an author profile on The Gryphon's website, with LinkedIn or links to other portfolios.
Build links with creative spaces and student services in the local Leeds community such as Yorkshire MESMAC, Left Bank, The Bookish Type.
Introduce student poetry, photography, and prints within The Gryphon’s pages.

ACCOUNTABILITY:

We live in a time where our generation of students feel disconnected from uni, campus, and the wider Leeds community due to socio-economic conditions that feel beyond our control. As Editor, I will:


Hold those at the top to account through more foregrounding of students’ views.
Promote stories on the climate crisis, student occupy movements and the uni’s response to strikes affecting our education.
Extending monthly themes such as Black History Month and LGBTQ+ to across the year to ensure continued promotion of marginalised voices.

My Experience:

3+ as an Arts and Culture section editor, using both Adobe InDesign and WordPress.
Written articles for multiple sections on a variety of student affairs such as the strikes, LS6 Theatre productions, Leeds International Film Festival.
Volunteer as co-editor of Leeds History Student Times.

Candidate Statement – Benjamin Forrest

Improve accessibility and distribution of the printed editions

Distribution of The Gryphon has been severely lacking over the past few years, which is having a negative impact on readership. Under my leadership, The Gryphon will be readily accessible throughout campus at all times (while stocks last!). In addition, I aim to set up a delivery system whereby printed editions can be posted/delivered locally to houses around Leeds as well as being distributed to all student halls. Not only will this increase readership and awareness for The Gryphon, but it will also cut down on wasted paper from unread copies.

Quality Journalism

I believe that quality journalism should be at the predominant aim of every newspaper. For this reason, I aim to improve the journalism published under The Gryphon – both in terms of content and writing. To achieve this, I will conduct writing workshops, which members will be able to attend if they wish to improve the quality of their writing. I will also seek out more exciting opportunities for writers in terms of interviews and exclusive opportunities to write about – a quick look at the history of The Gryphon will reveal that the newspaper has previously been at the forefront of some ground-breaking political discourse which later led to national coverage. It would be great to make The Gryphon a place for people to develop and expand their writing skills as opposed to a place which will publish anything no questions asked.

Cross-society Interaction

Despite my love for The Gryphon, it often feels somewhat ignored in comparison to the likes of LSTV and LSR. If elected, I aim to create collaborative content linking these three media societies which will help improve relations with said societies as well as creating some engaging and exciting content! Through my work as editor of the Music & Clubs section, I am aware that LSR, LSTV and The Gryphon are often covering the same events – music festivals, for instance – and thereby it seems like a wasted opportunity that there is little-to-no collaboration between the three societies, despite sharing a lot of members.

Print Media

It is no secret that the printed edition of The Gryphon has yet to fully recover after the covid pandemic but a temporary hold on the print run. I am a big believer in print media and so I aim to return the printed copies of The Gryphon to their former glory. I will achieve this by committing to a regular and regimented monthly print run – currently the paper can go months without a print edition – and the inclusion of more locally based advertisers in order to fund these print runs (though it is important to say that these advertisements will not detract from the journalism).

Social Events

It is my firm belief that The Gryphon needs to become a more sociable society in the interest of both attracting new members and, ultimately, having fun. Gryphon social events in my time as a member have been incredibly fun, but incredibly few. As editor-in-chief, I would organise regular parties, outings and events – as well as keeping the annual Otley Run going, of course…

Why me?

3 years’ experience at The Gryphon
2 years’ experience as a section editor
I have been writing, designing and printing my own independent magazine for 6 years, so I know what makes a good publication great!
As a Journalism BA student, student journalism is something very close to my heart.

Campaign Statement

Whether a writer for the Gryphon, an occasional reader or even if you just happen to live here, I want to re-energize your student paper and make it more you.

FOR WRITERS

- Expansion of visual media - incorporate more original illustration, photography and social media marketing both online and in print, also meaning the expansion of the in-house team
While article writing is the foundation of The Gryphon, I want to develop more opportunities for showcasing visual art and continue to grow our social media presence

Diverse voices- build on current mentorship schemes (POC, LGBTQ+) with targeted workshops to encourage participation from voices not heard enough at The Gryphon
There’s a diversity problem at The Gryphon. I want to ensure the paper is welcoming of all voices and provides a platform for those previously marginalised, underrepresented and dismissed.
More Gryphon events- use the status of The Gryphon to organise more social events: open-mics, industry talks and roundtables

FOR READERS

No more token issues- The Gryphon will sustain a focus on POC and LGBTQ+ stories (not just on the months we think we should)
Through the diversification of our writers group and sustained focus on POC, LGTBQ+ and disabled stories, there will be no need for tokenistic issues rolled out for BHM in October or LGBTQ+ History Month in February.
The Flame Zine- incorporate a zine into the monthly printed edition, giving an opportunity for every student to show off their creative work

FOR LEEDS

'Leeds'ification- introduce a 'What's Going On?' page, detailing the events happening in Leeds every month, in collaboration with Leeds Inspired
I want the Gryphon to become a gateway for students into Leeds life- whether new to Leeds, a local or just curious about what the city has to offer
The student experience- continued collaboration with LSR and LSTV (e.g Gryph-On-Air) to create content representative of the Leeds student experience

WHY ME? WHY NOT.
3 years experience as Arts & Culture Editor, with personal interest on covering local stories
Frequent involvement with wider student community through shows on LSR and time as Course Rep for English Literature and Language
4th Year Student, knowledgeable and comfortable with the workings of uni life