Gair rhydd

Infobox Newspaper
name =
type = Weekly newspaper
format = Tabloid
foundation = 1972
price = Free
owners = Cardiff University Students' Union
editor = Ben Bryant
headquarters = Cardiff University Students' Union, Cardiff
website = [http://www.gairrhydd.com/ www.gairrhydd.com]

"Gair Rhydd" (Welsh for "free word") is the official student newspaper of Cardiff University. It is a weekly, free, tabloid-sized paper established in 1972 and edited by a full-time sabbatical officer of the Students' Union. Its sections cover domestic and international news, health, science, jobs and money, politics, sport, opinion, and a spoof problem page; in addition, there is a Welsh-language section, "Taf-Od". In 2003, "Gair Rhydd" launched "Quench", a fortnightly lifestyle/entertainment magazine.

The first paid editor, Meirion Jones (now on the BBC's "Newsnight"), was elected in 1980. Since then, "Gair Rhydd" has won numerous student media awards, including several in the early 1990s and, more recently, the title of Best Paper at the NUS/"Daily Mirror" National Student Journalism Awards 2004, Best Newspaper at the Guardian Student Media Awards 2005, with deputy editor James Anthony also being named overall Student Journalist of the Year, and "Quench" winning Best Magazine, adding to its award for Student Publication of the Year 2005 at the EMAP Fanzine Awards.

The paper's current editor is Ben Bryant. The deputy editor of "Gair Rhydd" and editor of "Quench" is Hazel Plush. Past editor Tom Wellingham and two other student journalists were suspended when, on February 4, 2006, they reproduced a controversial cartoon depicting Mohammed. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4689442.stm] The issue was withdrawn from publication within a day of being released, and the editor published an apology in the next issue.

In 2006, "Gair Rhydd" celebrated the publication of its 800th issue. Later that year, on June 12, 2006, a one-off Berliner format edition (issue number 818) was published, making "Gair Rhydd" the first non-national British newspaper to use this format, and the only one not owned by Guardian Newspapers.

At the 2006 Guardian Student Media Awards "Quench" was named Magazine of the Year at an awards ceremony on November 8, 2006.

External links

* [http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/ Cardiff University]
* [http://www.cardiffstudents.com/ Cardiff University Students' Union]
* [http://www.gairrhydd.com/ "Gair Rhydd"]
* [http://quench.gairrhydd.com/ Quench]
* [http://www.xpressradio.co.uk/ Xpress Radio]
* [http://www.emapfanzineawards.co.uk/winners_2005.html Emap Fanzine Awards 2005]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4689442.stm News item about the issue withdrawn in February]