By Aikaterini Lygaki
Oxford has so many amazing student publications — like Cherwell, The Isis, The Oxford Blue and The Oxford Student — and it can be very daunting to choose which one to get involved with. Each publication has a different feel to it, and it can be scary figuring out which one would work best for you. This is exactly how I felt for the entire first year of my degree, as I was trying to balance uni work and overcome my fear of putting my writing out there. When I did decide to take that leap, I wrote some articles for The Oxford Blue and Cherwell, and eventually moved on to be one of the section editors for the latter. I’m very pleased with my trajectory now, but I wish I hadn’t waited so long to get involved, as I realise that all my apprehensions were just in my head.
To give a quick run-down of the different styles of these publications, Cherwell and The Oxford Student are student-run newspapers which publish anything from news to lifestyle to comment, printing their issues in physical format; whereas The Oxford Blue has a similar feel but is an online newspaper. Finally, The Isis is the longest-running independent student magazine in the UK. Each publication has its own merits, and I’d encourage you to get involved with any one which strikes your fancy. The first step is always the hardest one, but if you remember that these publications are run by your peers, and that they are always there to ask questions and help edit, then starting doesn’t seem as daunting as it used to!