Brighton-based Emily Sands (right) was the first student journalist to be appointed and has already got stuck in at the busy 24 HM office. © 24 Hour Museum.

Thanks to new regional museum funding from government, a network of student journalists will be writing news stories about museums and galleries over the next six months.

Based all over the country, students get a £500 bursary as part of the Renaissance Student Journalism Network co-ordinated by the 24 Hour Museum and funded by the Renaissance in the Regions programme.

Run by the Museums, Libraries and Archives council (MLA), Renaissance in The Regions aims to get extra funding to regional museums and encourage more and more children and school groups to explore museums and galleries.

24 Hour Museum Editor, Jon Pratty, explained that the network is all about trying to spread the word about the fantastic work going on in our regional museums and galleries.

The students' stories will be published on the 24 Hour Museum website. © 24 Hour Museum.

"As we get around the country visiting museums and writing our stories, it’s clear that we need to find a way of helping smaller museums tell the public about their great collections and exhibitions," he said.

"This network gives us a chance, thanks to Renaissance funding, to start doing just that."

The £20,000 project builds on the success of 24 Hour Museum’s City Heritage Guides and is part of MLA’s strategy to help regional museums reach a wider audience.

Students are ‘embedded’ in a work placement in a museum or gallery office, where they’ll spend one day a week for six months getting the low-down on some of the great exhibitions and news stories that come out of cultural venues in their region.

24 Hour Museum Editor, Jon Pratty hands Emily a cheque for £500. © 24 Hour Museum.

Awards have already been made to students based in Brighton, Birmingham and Cambridge. Originally from Ipswich, Emily Sands is working out of the 24 Hour Museum office and has already produced stories about the Watts Gallery in Surrey and the continuing effort to conserve as much of the Mary Rose Tudor warship as possible.

Roslyn Tappenden, based at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, is covering the West Midlands Hub region, while Catherine Rose will be producing articles about museums in the East of England.

Roz, Emily and Catherine are the first in a series of students who will be appointed over the coming weeks in Bristol, Norwich, Manchester and London with other regions to follow.

"This is an innovative and imaginative scheme which will benefit all parties - small and large museums, the Renaissance programme and the student journalists themselves," said Caroline Dudley, Lead Director of the south east museums hub. "It gives them valuable experience and real responsibility which will boost their future careers."

One of Emily Sands' first assignments saw her get familiar with some 16th century mud. © 24 Hour Museum.

However, there has been such a high level of enthusiasm about the scheme that other agencies in the hub regions have decided to fund extra student bursaries.

In Norwich, Heart – the Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust – is funding a student to produce articles about the city’s heritage and history, focussing on Heritage Open Days, which are to be led and launched from Norwich this year.

Locally-based Jayna Makwana has been chosen from a shortlist of applicants and will be starting in the coming weeks.

Other extra bursaries have been funded by the South East Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and the London Museums Hub, which will provide a student to support a new online project called Untold London that promotes the diverse collections of the capital’s museums.