Industry News Archives | Sell My Story

SellUsYourStory.com win more press awards!

May 17, 2016 by Sell My Story

SWNS, the National Press Agency behind SellUsYourStory.com wins four out of six prizes at this year’s news agency press awards.

NAPA (National Association of Press Agencies) hosted the awards evening on Friday night which included a double win for SellUsYourStory.com reporter Harriet Rose-Gale, who scooped two press awards.

Press agency journalists who supply the majority of stories to the national newspapers and magazines had their moment to in the spotlight, but it was Press Agency SWNS (SellUsYourStory.com) that was the big winner on the night, taking home four of the six press awards up for grabs.

Features reporter Harriet Rose-Gale claimed both the Feature of the Year Award for her story about Bobbi Woodley who was sexually and mentally abused by her father for three decades, and The Keith Patrick Award for her work on mistaken acid attack victim Andreas Christopheros.

Other SWNS winners included photographer Peter Summers for Picture of the Year, after the talented snapper captured an Osprey as it snatched a Trout from a river.

Laura Elvin from the SWNS News Team picked up the Spec News Award for her story about poppy seller Olive Cooke who killed herself after being hounded by 99 charities for donations.

SWNS director Andrew Young (affectionately known as OG within the media industry said he was ‘immensely proud’ especially after collecting the Picture of the Year award on behalf of Peter Summers.

Jon Harris, Napa chairman, said: ‘The quality of entries in this year’s awards was quite outstanding and is typical of the agenda setting content which our member agencies source, compile and distribute to all media on a daily basis.’’

SellUsYourStory.com help members of the public connect with the national press and achieve the most money for selling their stories, photos and videos to newspapers and magazines.

SWNS has also won funding to create an online system where contributors can track their payments for stories, videos and photos in real time, which will make the process even more efficient.

SWNS Photo of the Year 2014 – Vote Now

December 10, 2014 by Sell My Story

We’d like you to help us choose the SWNS photo of the year 2014. All you have to do is look through the SWNS picture editor’s 100 best photos for 2014 and tick which ones you like.

The photo with the most votes will be named SWNS photo of the year 2o14. Together with the award, the winning snapper will receive a bottle of bubbly (paid for by Jon Mills!).

You can see the SWNS picture editor’s 100 best photos of 2014 here: 100-best-photos-of-the-year-2014

Every photo was placed in the national press through the SWNS News Wire. Please share to help us raise awareness of the stellar work our photographers and contributors produce on a daily basis.

Industry News – SWNS Takeover of Talk to the Press

June 18, 2014 by Sell My Story

SWNS Now Becomes the Leading Online Press Agency

SWNS, Britain’s biggest news agency group, has acquired the leading ‘sell my story’ story selling website and internet press agency, Talk to the Press – Sell My Story (http://www.talktothepress.co.uk).

Founded by Natasha Courtenay-Smith in 2008, the site acts as a story broker for members of the public wishing to publicise or sell stories to the media, and advises individuals who need help handling press attention. The business has now become part of the Bristol-based SWNS Group, which includes several news agencies across the country.
SWNS also runs the website Sell Us Your Story (https://www.sellusyourstory.com) and the purchase of Talk to the Press will make it the biggest operator in the sector.
Martin Winter, director and news editor at SWNS, said: “This is a great acquisition for us and a perfect fit for our business. Our existing website has become an increasingly valuable way of generating exclusive stories and to acquire the market leader is a real coup for us. Natasha has done a fantastic job in setting up the business from scratch and leading the field from the start. We look forward to helping Talk to the Press continue to grow with the resources, distribution network and geographical spread of the SWNS Group.”

Natasha, who formerly worked as a writer at the Daily Mail, set up the business in 2008. It quickly won a number of business awards and saw her listed on Management Today’s 35 under 35 list of female high fliers. Talk to the Press has been responsible for numerous front page stories and has sold thousands of exclusive stories into national newspapers and women’s magazines. Natasha will leave the business after a short handover to concentrate on other business interests.

She said: “I can’t think of anyone better than SWNS to take over Talk to the Press. The directors have created a hugely inspirational and innovative business and I know they will add huge value to Talk to the Press, whilst maintaining its good reputation and growing it further.”

All Talk to the Press staff have been retained and former deputy editor Georgette Culley has taken over as editor. The business has moved into the London office of SWNS’s PR and market research operations – 72Point and OnePoll – in Clerkenwell. This is the latest of several acquisitions in recent years by SWNS, which is owned by Andrew Young, Paul Walters and Martin Winter.

The SWNS Group also includes Newsteam in Birmingham, Ross Parry in Leeds, Masons News in Cambridge, and Centre Press and Northscot in Scotland.

SWNS is also partnered with Famous Features Press Agency, SellMyStoryNow.co.uk, and SellMyStoryToday.co.uk. For more information about Talk to the Press, visit www.talktothepress.co.uk

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