MADELEINE BALCOMBE
JOURNALISM PORTFOLIO
FUTURE PLC | FREELANCE WORK
I am currently freelancing on the Health desk at Woman&Home.
In this role, I repurpose old copy for print, upload and schedule content to the on-house CMS, complete research tasks, write new print copy (such as features, listicles, and news pages), and regularly speak with PR contacts and potential sources.
CARDIFF BUSINESS LIFE MAGAZINE | FREELANCE WORK
I am currently a freelance journalist at Cardiff Business Life Magazine.
In this role, I write B2B content to be published in print, brainstorm ideas and conduct interviews.
TIME OUT LONDON | WORK EXPERIENCE
I completed a two-week work experience placement at Time Out in April 2024.
I wrote daily new stories, one of which was recognised as a top performer after gaining over 100k page views in a matter of days. As well as this, I updated old stories, fact-checked guides, reviewed restaurants, liaised with PR and pitched ideas for features and news stories.
FUTURE PLC | WORK EXPERIENCE
I completed a two-week work experience placement at Future PLC in April 2024. Here, I worked across an array of women's lifestyle titles, including Woman & Home, Woman’s Weekly, Woman, and Chat.
I shadowed the features editors, attended meetings, conducted article research, pitched ideas. On top of this, I gained many print bylines as I wrote book reviews for Woman’s Weekly, travel pieces for Chat Magazine, and features for Woman & Home.
MA MAGAZINE JOURNALISM | CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
In September 2023, I enrolled on Cardiff University's PPA accredited MA Magazine Journalism course. Here, I learnt vital skills needed as I prepare for a career in the industry.
From writing features and news stories, to creating a new magazine brand from scratch, all bases were covered. I developed my writing, pitching, subbing and researching skills. On top of this, I learnt new skills, such as: using Adobe software (namely InDesign and Photoshop), podcasting, using various CMS', and basic teeline shorthand.
PLATTER AND PLONK | SUBSTACK NEWSLETTER
As part of my MA Magazine Journalism course, I have set up my own substack newsletter, called Platter and Plonk.
Every month, from December 2023 - May 2024, I will publish a new post. This newsletter is every wine and cheese lover's dream, covering everything from recommendations and recipes, to interviews with industry professionals and the history behind the pairing.
​
Creating my own newsletter has allowed me to gain experience using substack, an increasingly popular platform in the industry,
CARDIFF LIFE MAGAZINE | WORK EXPERIENCE
For two weeks in September, I joined the Cardiff Life Magazine team in their office for a work experience placement.
During my work experience I was exposed to so much of the publication's editorial process. I wrote articles, produced newsletters, posted stories and reels, contributed in planning meetings for upcoming issues, scheduled blog posts, and attended a handful of events in and around the city.
These two weeks were an amazing insight into what working as part of an editorial team involves. I learnt so much whilst gaining bylines in a publication that I admire.
QUENCH MAGAZINE | STUDENT MEDIA
Quench is Cardiff University's award-winning, student-led arts and culture magazine, published both online and physically. I have been a contributing writer for Quench since the start of my time at Cardiff University, writing for a variety of different sections, such as Music, Features, Literature, Fashion, Travel, Food & Drink and Spotlight.
In November 2021, during my second year of university, I became an editor for the Features Section of the magazine. In my final year, I progressed onto Deputy Editor in Chief of Quench Magazine.
Click the button below to read the articles that I have written for Quench.
VISION MAGAZINE | WORK EXPERIENCE
Vision Magazine is an Essex-based lifestyle publication, with a monthly readership of 275,000 people. It is distributed both via print and online, with a new edition being released every month.
From September 2022 - March 2023, I completed work experience with Vision Magazine, as a local news writer for their Leigh on Sea magazine. Within this role I responded to monthly pitches, adhered to strict deadlines and small word counts, and conducted interviews and independent research to inform my articles. This work experience allowed me to expand my journalistic experience as I gained new skills working for this publication.
Click the button below to read the articles that I have written for Vision Magazine.
BEHIND THE HEADLINES | THE GUARDIAN MASTERCLASS
In June 2021, I was lucky enough to attended an online feature writing workshop led by The Guardian’s Coco Khan. At the start of this workshop, Khan discussed how she began her successful career in journalism. She then taught us what differentiates a feature from a news article, along with the building blocks behind writing a successful story. We then broke off into small groups, where we were given the task of reworking the story of a children’s fairy tale into a feature for a specific publication and demographic; I was given Snow White and The National Geographic. After discussing our ideas, we pitched our article idea to Coco Khan and received extensive feedback.
THE SUNBEAM ZINE | INDEPENDENT PROJECT
In January 2021 I decided to create my own digital magazine, titled The Sunbeam Zine. I created an Instagram account for the project and posted a callout for contributors. Following this, I received photography, poetry, creative writing pieces, and articles from over 60 people worldwide. I single-handedly decided what would be included in the magazine, editing, designing and publishing the final product independently on Issuu. Since its publication in March 2021, The Sunbeam Zine has been read by over 1,200 people across the world.
EMPOWORD JOURNALISM | WORK EXPERIENCE
"A woman-led project that looks to unite and empower journalists"
​
Empoword Journalism is a project that was founded in May 2020. It provides a platform on which aspiring female writers and journalists are able to pitch and write their own articles. They currently have over 70 contributors writing for them and I'm very excited to be a part of this community.​ You can read the articles I've written for Empoword Journalism below.