Wessex Scene Information

The Wessex Scene (formerly Wessex News, prior 1996) is the oldest, leading, and most-read student news provider at the University of Southampton, and has been in print since 1936, making it one of the oldest student publications in the United Kingdom.

Wessex Scene now takes the forms of an online news site and a monthly printed magazine, published by the University of Southampton Students Union and available across the campuses and Halls of Residence of the university. The website and online edition were nominated for best website at the Guardian Student Media Awards for three years in a row before winning the award in 2004. Since its establishment in 2013, Wessex Scene has been nominated for dozens of Student Publication Association awards, and was highly commended for Best Designed magazine in 2015. The team at the magazine have also won a number of individual nationally recognised awards. In 2014 a piece by Bridie Pearson-Jones, then politics editor, was selected as one of the Huffington Post Student Journalist Stories of the Year, and in 2015 Toby Leveson was awarded New Deal Student Journalist of the Year by The Independent and National Union of Students for his coverage of the 2015 General Election. In 2018, Wessex Scene won jointly with the Edge Best Collaboration at SPARC (Student Publication Association Regional Conference) for a collaborative magazine focussing on the topic of mental health.

The Wessex Scene initially began as Wessex News on 25 February 1936, and was published by students Union of the, then, University College. The Union had at this time just been granted a section of the main University building following new construction work and as a result had begun to expand in operations. From this foundation the paper was printed regularly in newspaper format with relatively few changes. The name changed to the current Wessex Scene in 1996 to reflect on the other content that was being fed into the paper and the publication launched online in the 2001 academic year.

The publications ownership by the Students Union has resulted in conflict at times between the student writers and editors of the publication, and the officers at the Union who are also Editors-in-chief but who have a minimal role. This has led to claims of censorship and that the Union blocked stories that they believed did not fit with the values of the Union. Subsequently, a Code of Conduct was written for the writers of the publication to adhere to.

In 2013 the Wessex Scene and The Edge became founding members of the Student Publication Association. The association was founded as a result of the efforts of David Gilani, the Vice-President Communications at the Students Union and Editor-in-chief of both publications at the time. SUSU and the two publications hosted the first conference in April 2013 and also hosted the 2015 conference.

The Scene is run by an editorial team headed by the Editor, currently[when?] Charlotte Colombo, who is elected in cross-campus elections in early spring and whose term runs for one year. Part of the Creative Industries Zone of the Students Union, the work of the publication is overseen by the Vice-President Activities Industries, the Sabbatical officer in charge of the zone who acts as Editor-in-chief, currently Fiona Sunderland. The editor is supported by a Deputy Editor and a team of editors each overseeing one section of the publication of News and Investigations, Features, Creative Writing, Politics, Opinion, Pause (Satire), Lifestyle, Science and Technology, Travel, International, and Sport. There are further positions as the Heads of Design, Marketing, Events and Imagery.

The Edge is the University of Southamptons entertainment publication. Originally created in 1995 as a supplement of the Wessex Scene, The Edge has been published independently since Autumn 2011, and is its own distinct department of the Students Union.[better source needed] Online content is published regularly each day, and eight print issues are published per year.

The Edge focuses on entertainment news and reviews; it covers union, local and national theatre/live music, and release of records, film and television. In 2014, The Edge won the award for Best Design at the annual Student Publication Awards, and in 2015 Records Editor Hannah Mylrea won highly commended in the Best Entertainment Piece category.

The Editorial Team of The Edge includes an overall Editor (as of 2018/19, Thea Hartman), a Deputy Editor, Section Editors, and Heads Of including Design and Publicity. The position of Editor is a Student Leader position, and is decided in cross-campus elections by the Students Union in early Spring, in the main elections period for the Union. The remainder of the committee is decided at the publications AGM each year, in around late April. There are currently Editors for News, Records, Live, Film, Culture and Features, and positions for a Head of Publicity, Design, Relations and an Online Manager. Executive positions are decided on a year-by-year basis; currently they include a News Executive. The work of the publication forms part of the Unions Creative Industries Zone, and is overseen by the Vice-President Democracy and Creative Industries who, for 2018/19, is Evie Reilly.

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