A University of Central Lancashire course leader has been asked to join the judges of a new competition for the magazine industry.

The pioneering Magazine Journalism Awards seeks to salute the best among the reporters, writers and subs throughout the industry at a glittering ìOscarsî ceremony in London in late October.

Cathy Darby, who founded UCLanís own ground-breaking Masters in Magazine Journalism two years ago, has been invited to join experts such as Sue Peart, editor of You, and the Sunday Times colour magazine editor Robin Morgan, to assess entrants for the subbing and reviewing categories under the chairmanship of magazine doyenne Sally OíSullivan.

ìItís a great compliment to be asked to join such a panel of luminaries,î said Cathy, as 14 of her trainee journalists keenly awaited the arrival in Preston of Sally OíSullivan for a guest lecture introducing them to the delights of a life in magazines. When she burst in she was vibrant and smiling, the larger-than-life character they all expected who announced: ìMagazines in my opinion are completely fabulous.î

Sally OíSullivan began her career freelance writing at Trinity College Dublin, from 1969-1971. ìThere were women sitting at typewriters wearing long gloves, it was that long ago.î She said. After a lucky meeting with an agent at a party, she landed her place on ìLook Now,î a teenage magazine of the 1970s. Despite her hard work writing Girl Talk and Sallyís Top Ten Men, she had a sideline career making cheesecakes at local delicatessens for extra pennies. Sally landed her first newspaper at the Daily Express, where there was ìa huge rush of womenís pages at the timeî.

From strength to strength

Her cheesecake days were firmly behind her, both feet were well and truly through the journalism door and her career went from strength to strength. After writing for a living, editing jobs began to roll in. ìYou were paid to have lunch, you were paid to be on the phone, it was fantastic!î She said.

Sally fulfilled various editing roles and spent some time living the high life in New York. That was ìbefore I had children and dogs and fridges and things like that.î However the frenzy of excitement that was the Big Apple came to a happy end when she married and started working for the Glasgow Herald Group.

After giving birth to her first child she began work for Options magazine, ìbasically Cosmo with a babyî. A magazine for women whose lives no longer revolved around simply being fabulous (though of course this was still a factor!) Sally then went on to launch various magazines including Country Homes and Interiors, Options for men and a sassy weekly called Riva in 1988, which she felt was too ahead of its time.

After a stint editing She magazine, working on Harpers and Queen and editing Good Housekeeping she went on to launch Living Etc, a slightly different take on the homes magazines of the past. However ìall the readers wanted was homesî, she laughed as she pointed out the most important part of the magazine business: Keeping the consumer happy.

In 1998, when Reed was selling IPC Media, Sally got together a group bidding £840 million for the publishers of Woman, Country Life and NME among other household magazine titles. In the end, the company sold for £860 million. She reflected that this experience taught her a lot about money and the magazine business.

Instead she set up Cabal Communications which led to the launch of magazines including Front, a controversial younger ladsí magazine. After five yearsí of hard work, dedication and innovative ìchocolate Wednesdaysî (for that mid-week slump) the company was sold in 2003 for £10 million. A woman of great drive and determination, Sally OíSullivanís charm and spark are evident in her funny anecdotes and invaluable advice based on a lifetimeís magazine experience.

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MA Magazine Journalism
Magazine Journalism Awards

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