Media challenge for Gauntlet Finalists

Finalists of this year’s Running the Gauntlet business competition will this month find out how the media really works. 

Mediapro and the BBC have joined forces to offer the ten East of England finalists an exclusive look at how news is gathered and put to air.  They’ll spend a day at the BBC’s Norwich TV and radio studios with Mediapro’s Media Trainer Maria Veronese.

Running the Gauntlet is the East of England Development Agency’s (EEDA) investment competition and free education programme for entrepreneurs.  Winners share up to £2m equity funding from investors.  This year the competition has attracted over 300 entrants.

On 9 October ten finalists will be selected from a short-list of 50.  Six days later those finalists will do Mediapro’s specially tailored Media Awareness training at the BBC studios.  “As well as watch the radio and television stations in action they’ll face the challenge of doing ‘live’ radio and TV interviews themselves,” Maria says. 

Doug Richard, chairman of the investor’s panel says “Small businesses driven by gutsy entrepreneurs lie at the heart of a successful economy.  I want to see more of them.  The 50 entrepreneurs short-listed are to be congratulated, but they must keep focused on the job in hand.  Let’s see who makes it to the next stage.”