Allied Press’ 2023 journalist cadetship programme, funded by New Zealand On Air, wrapped up last week and Mr Andrews is one of the graduates.
He has accepted a fulltime reporter’s position at The Ensign.
The cadets’ graduation was celebrated in Dunedin last Friday.
Mr Andrews saw the training programme advertised in 2022 and thought "why not?"
Applying via video entry, he received a time slot for an interview — for which he was 30 minutes late.
"I definitely thought I had blown it, but it turns out I received the wrong time slot," he said.
He received the opportunity for a position in Gore, and thought he would "give it a go in a new area".
"I’ve now had a taste of journalism, from court reporting, to emergency services, events and profiling people."
His favourite story so far has been the story he wrote in the January 17 edition of The Ensign about a house fire in Mataura that was started by the family dog.
"Despite the drastic nature of the story, it was interesting to write and I liked the photo I took.
"It shows that this job is not all sunshine and rainbows."
He felt good about graduating and was excited to see where the journey would take him.
The Ensign bureau chief Sandy Eggleston said the team enjoyed having Mr Andrews in the office and was pleased he was staying.
"He has worked hard and cheerfully tackled everything asked of him."
It had been great being part of the Allied Press cadet training scheme, Ms Eggleston said.
"Having completed journalism training at a tertiary institution, I can see the benefits of on-the-job training.
"I think Ben’s skill base and knowledge of reporting is far more developed than mine was after a year of training."
There is a shortage of staff in many occupations, especially in the regions.
"Running a cadet scheme is a proactive way to counteract this and shows the company’s commitment to providing thorough news coverage throughout the south."
