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Women in Journalism — Membership, Mentoring and the Georgina Henry Award

Women in Journalism is a UK membership network for women journalists. Membership costs £30 or £45 a year depending on where you are based, and it opens the door to a one-year mentoring scheme, discounted training, members' events and recorded masterclasses.

This page sets out what membership includes, who is eligible for mentoring and when applications open, what the £4,000 Georgina Henry Award requires, and how the organisation is registered at Companies House.

Last reviewed: Next review due:

See membership tiers →Cost and eligibilityFAQs

What Women in Journalism Is

Women in Journalism is a membership network for women working in journalism in the UK. It describes itself as “the UK’s leading network for women journalists, supporting a national membership working across all sectors and platforms in the UK”. Its year-round programme combines events and workshops, a mentoring scheme, awards, a weekly members’ newsletter and a library of recorded masterclasses.

It is a company rather than a charity. Companies House lists Women in Journalism Limited, company number 17178484, as a private company limited by guarantee without share capital, registered at Acre House, 11-15 William Road, London NW1 3ER, with status Active. The same company number and address appear on the organisation's own join page.

Membership is open to women at any career stage and across formats — print, audio, video and multimedia. The one place a career-stage gate applies is the mentoring scheme, which requires at least two years of professional experience and does not accept current students.

What Membership Gets a Working Journalist

The join page lists what a membership carries. The items below are taken from that page; they are the organisation's own description of the offer, not our assessment of how it performs.

Mentoring scheme access

Membership is a stated condition of applying to the mentoring scheme, which matches women journalists with senior figures across the industry.

Discounted training

Members get discounted rates for skills training, described as available both online and in person.

Weekly newsletter

A weekly members’ newsletter carrying events, opportunities and industry news.

On-demand learning

Recordings of the previous year’s masterclasses and talks, available to members to watch back.

Cost and Eligibility

Membership is priced on two geographic tiers, set out on the join page.

London and South East

£45 / year

For members based in London and the South East.

UK Regional

£30 / year

For members based elsewhere in the UK.

Membership gates the mentoring scheme. Being “a member of Women in Journalism” is one of the four stated conditions for applying to be a mentee, so the subscription is the price of entry to the scheme rather than an optional extra alongside it.

What we could not confirm about cost. Neither the mentoring page nor the become-a-mentee page states a fee for taking part in mentoring itself. Membership is the only charge we can verify, and we do not know whether any further charge applies once you are matched. Similarly, the Georgina Henry Award eligibility criteria do not mention membership at all, so the mentoring requirement should not be read across to the award.

The Mentoring Scheme

The mentoring scheme runs for a year and pairs a mentee with an experienced journalist. Women in Journalism says it is now in its ninth year and has matched more than 800 mentees with experienced journalists from across the industry. It is split into two strands and carries a short list of hard conditions.

  • ›
    Junior strand

    Described as "for journalists with two to five years’ experience who are working in the industry". The scheme states plainly: "We do not accept students."

  • ›
    Senior strand

    Described as "for journalists with five or more years’ experience", for people looking for guidance further into a career rather than at the start of one.

  • ›
    The four stated conditions

    You must have worked in a journalism role for at least two years and not currently be studying; not have taken part in another mentoring scheme in the past 12 months; commit to four meetings during the scheme, online or in person; and be a member of Women in Journalism.

  • ›
    Dates and format

    Applications for the 2027 scheme open on 1 November and close on 30 November, with outcomes confirmed by the end of December. Mentees meet their mentor four times over the year, online or in person, and set three goals at the outset.

The Georgina Henry Award

Women in Journalism describes the Georgina Henry Award as “an annual £4,000 prize supporting original and impactful journalism”. It is named after the Guardian’s former deputy editor, a past Chair of Women in Journalism, and is sponsored by the law firm Wiggin LLP. Applications open on 1 October and are judged by an independent panel; the winner joins the Women in Journalism committee as an honorary Fellow.

The eligibility criteria are short. An applicant must “be a woman working in the UK journalism industry”, and “preference will be given to applicants whose work is not supported by a large media organisation”. It is open across journalistic disciplines and career stages, and Women in Journalism says it will help with attendance costs where those would otherwise be a barrier. Membership is not listed among the criteria on the award page.

Recent winners listed by Women in Journalism are Emma Guy, editor of the Leicester Gazette and Subtext, in 2025; Sophia Smith Galer of Sophina in 2024; and Rhiannon Davies, founder of the Scottish Beacon, in 2023. The pattern in that list is consistent with the stated preference for work not backed by a large media organisation.

How Women in Journalism Is Registered

Women in Journalism Limited is registered at Companies House with company number 17178484. The record shows a private company limited by guarantee without share capital, registered office at Acre House, 11-15 William Road, London NW1 3ER, and company status Active. The organisation publishes the same number and address on its join page. It is not a registered charity: no charity number appears on any of its pages we checked, and we found no matching entry on the Charity Commission register.

The dates on that record deserve a note. The company was incorporated on 24 April 2026, and its first accounts, made up to 30 April 2027, are not due until 24 January 2028. That means there are no filed accounts to read yet, which is simply a consequence of how recently the company was formed.

The organisation's own history page tells a longer story: it says Women in Journalism “is now more than 30 years old and continues to innovate as the industry changes”, names Eve Pollard as founder and Honorary President, and traces its origin to a women’s event she organised as Charity Appeal Chair for the Newspaper Press Fund, now the Journalists’ Charity. We are not able to reconcile that account with a public register: the only registered entity we could locate is the 2026 company, and we found no predecessor company or charity. A body that ran unincorporated for years and then incorporated would produce exactly this record, but we have not verified that, so this page does not give a founding year as fact.

Where to Start With Women in Journalism

Check the membership tiers

The join page carries the two price tiers, the list of what membership includes, and the company details.

Join page→

Read the mentoring conditions before applying

Four conditions apply, including two years in a journalism role and current membership. Applications for the 2027 scheme run through November.

Mentoring→

Check which mentoring strand fits

The junior and senior strands are split at five years of experience, and the become-a-mentee page sets out how matching and meetings work.

Become a mentee→

Consider the Georgina Henry Award

A £4,000 annual prize with applications opening on 1 October, with stated preference for work not supported by a large media organisation.

Georgina Henry Award→

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Women in Journalism?
Women in Journalism is a UK membership network for women working in journalism. It describes itself as "the UK’s leading network for women journalists, supporting a national membership working across all sectors and platforms in the UK". Its programme covers year-round events and workshops, a one-year mentoring scheme, the Women in Journalism Awards and the Georgina Henry Award, a weekly members’ newsletter, and a library of recorded masterclasses. Membership is open to women at any career stage and in any format — print, audio, video or multimedia.
What does membership cost and what does it include?
There are two geographic tiers: £45 a year for members based in London and the South East, and £30 a year on the UK Regional tier for members based elsewhere in the UK. Membership gives access to the mentoring scheme, discounted rates for skills training online and in person, members’ events and the wider network. It also includes a weekly newsletter carrying events, opportunities and industry news, and on-demand access to recordings of the previous year’s masterclasses and talks. Membership is a stated prerequisite for applying to the mentoring scheme, so if mentoring is your reason for joining, join first.
How does the mentoring scheme work, and who is eligible?
The scheme runs for a year and matches a mentee with an experienced journalist. It is split into two strands: the junior scheme is "for journalists with two to five years’ experience who are working in the industry", and the senior scheme is "for journalists with five or more years’ experience". Students are explicitly not accepted. Four conditions are set out: you must have worked in a journalism role for at least two years and not currently be studying, not have taken part in another mentoring scheme in the past 12 months, commit to four meetings during the scheme (online or in person), and be a member of Women in Journalism. Mentees set three goals at the outset. Women in Journalism says the scheme is now in its ninth year and has matched more than 800 mentees.
When can I apply for mentoring?
Applications for the 2027 scheme open on 1 November and close on 30 November, with outcomes confirmed by the end of December. When we checked in August 2026 the 2026 scheme was closed and the 2027 round had not yet opened, and there was a register-your-interest form for people wanting to be told when it does. Note that we could not establish whether taking part costs anything beyond membership: neither the mentoring page nor the become-a-mentee page states a fee, and membership at £30 or £45 a year is the only charge we can confirm. If your budget depends on the answer, ask before you join.
What is the Georgina Henry Award?
It is described by Women in Journalism as "an annual £4,000 prize supporting original and impactful journalism". It is named after the Guardian’s former deputy editor, who was also a past Women in Journalism Chair, and is sponsored by the law firm Wiggin LLP. Applications open on 1 October and are judged by an independent panel, and the winner joins the Women in Journalism committee as an honorary Fellow. Eligibility is stated as being "a woman working in the UK journalism industry", with "preference … given to applicants whose work is not supported by a large media organisation"; it is open to any journalistic discipline and any career stage, and Women in Journalism says it will help with attendance costs if those are a barrier. Recent winners it lists are Emma Guy (2025), Sophia Smith Galer (2024) and Rhiannon Davies (2023). The eligibility criteria published on the award page do not mention membership, so do not assume the mentoring scheme’s membership requirement carries across.
Is Women in Journalism a charity?
No. Women in Journalism is a company, not a registered charity. Companies House records Women in Journalism Limited, company number 17178484, as a private company limited by guarantee without share capital, with a registered office at Acre House, 11-15 William Road, London NW1 3ER, and status Active. The organisation publishes that same company number on its own join page. No charity number appears on any Women in Journalism page we checked and we found no matching entry on the Charity Commission register, so treat any description of it as a charity — including a charity number attributed to it — as wrong.
How long has Women in Journalism existed?
This is worth handling carefully, because the organisation’s own account and the company record do not line up. Its history page says it "is now more than 30 years old and continues to innovate as the industry changes", and names Eve Pollard as its founder and Honorary President, tracing its origin to a women’s event she organised as Charity Appeal Chair for the Newspaper Press Fund, now the Journalists’ Charity. The only registered entity we could find, Women in Journalism Limited, was incorporated on 24 April 2026, with first accounts made up to 30 April 2027 due by 24 January 2028. That pattern is consistent with a long-running unincorporated body that has recently incorporated, but we could not verify a predecessor company or charity, so this page does not state a founding year as fact.
Is UK JournoHub affiliated with Women in Journalism?
No. UK JournoHub is independent of and not affiliated with Women in Journalism. We are not paid to feature them, and we receive nothing from them. This page is compiled from the organisation’s own website and from its Companies House record. Women in Journalism is also not a press regulator and has no role in adjudicating complaints about published content: UK press regulation sits with IPSO and IMPRESS, and broadcast regulation with Ofcom.

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