James Bailey, reached the final of the prestigious title of ‘BBC Bristol Young Correspondent of the Year Award’. After a gruelling interview process he was short-listed to the last 20 from hundreds of entries!

Encouraged by his success, James has found a way of achieving his dream of being a journalist, most of all in the field of sport, and has already gone a long way towards achieving this ambition.

Having received advice from high-profile journalists, James started to write for a football website, www.footballshirtculture.com, and gained experience. One of his articles entitled the same name, ‘Football Shirt Culture’, was picked up and printed by FC Business, a football business magazine distributed to every football league club.

Following on from this success, James was requested to appear on City Talk FM, the voice of Liverpool and the North West radio station. Representing footballshirtculture.com, he appeared as an “expert” on football shirts and presented his view on the debate, whether there should be an age limit on men wearing football shirts?

With James wanting to move away from just football kits, he set up his own football website linked to footballshirtculture.com. He named it www.thefirst90minutes.com.

Thefirst90minutes.com presents articles regarding all aspects of football culture. It has already gained a huge cresponse.

Next, James has interviews lined up with football stars and over the summer and now his GCSEs are over, he hopes the website should take off.

James has also been accepted as a member of the press in upcoming big press conferences, as he looks to further his credentials. James hopes to soon gain a football league media pass so he is able to attend all football league games. He is considering doing some more radio work and would like to gain some more written credits. With the sky being the limit, James hopes to develop his website and gain further experience in this field. James would one day love to work in South America reporting on the football in the countries that play it the best!

He says: “I have always dreamed of mingling with my heroes, travelling the world and reporting on all the latest news; something a journalist can do everyday. I enjoy writing and bringing my thoughts to others.”

Go to James’s site: www.thefirst90minutes.com