In 2017 I found myself sitting at a table with the Channel 4 news team at the British Journalism Awards. It was like a dream come true.

I was a finalist in the scoop of the year category for a story about exorbitant pay in higher education.

As a reporter in Bath at the time, I was the only non-national journalist up for the award.

It went to the Daily Mirror for its sting on the former Labour MP Keith Vaz in a drugs and sex scandal (a tough one to beat), but showed me the power of the local press in effecting change.

I grew up and went to school in Richmond – at St Stephen's Primary and Orleans Park School.

A typical Saturday as a youngster would involve playing football at Moormead and then pottering into town with my mum and sister for lunch at Caffe Uno, our favourite restaurant.

My first journalism idol was Kevin McCarra, football correspondent for the Guardian back when you could buy the paper for 40p.

With the ambition to fill his shoes one day I got involved in the student newspaper at University of Portsmouth.

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I like to think I passed on a promising football career to cover my housemate's matches in the bitter cold and howling wind on the coastal sports campus.

Even though I've been working in newspapers for a number of years, being a journalist in my hometown is a new experience. It's like seeing Richmond with new eyes – constantly looking for something that has changed in the town centre or a striking picture opportunity.

I've covered a polo match played on penny farthings, unearthed a hotel for insects and reported on the struggles of the high street. The number of stories which emerge from Richmond Park – a place of natural beauty which people are passionate about – has been a revelation.

It has been awesome to hear the many comments about how much Richmond Nub News is appreciated.

I place huge importance on pictures as a way of telling a story and always aim to source the highest quality images for my pieces.

I've hugely enjoyed becoming an active part of the community and finding out the many ways people are striving to make Richmond a better place to work and live.