BAFTA award winning Maeve travels to Australia to present wildfires Newsround special

Normally Maeve, who is a Journalist and Assistant Producer at BBC Newsround, spends her day finding stories, casting, scripting, filming and editing. However, when a presenter was unable to work because of a personal issue Maeve stepped in and turned her hand at presenting.

Maeve flew to Australia for a piece on the wildfires, some of the worst in history.

When asked if she felt apprehensive about being in front of the camera Maeve said: “Looking back, it was an amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will never forget. At the time it was nerve-wracking doing something I’ve never done before.

“However, after a day or two I relaxed into it and tried my best to just crack on. All the contributors I interviewed were really lovely and great talkers, so that definitely helped!”

Working at the BBC has given Maeve incredible opportunities, including working on the BAFTA award-winning documentary ‘Finding My Family: Holocaust: A Newsround special’, where she travelled with a holocaust survivor and his granddaughter through Europe, retracing their family’s steps during World War Two. She has also cites covering the Women’s World Cup in France and filming a climate change special in Fiji as highlights.

Maeve counts her Master’s degree at the University of Salford as the perfect stepping stone into the industry and one that landed her the job as a runner at CBBC.

“The tutors were excellent and are really knowledgeable industry experts,” she said. “I learnt a lot of practical skills on the course and it is where I first dipped my toes into the scary world of Networking. Through that I was able to get contacts in the industry, set up work experience placements, and got a spot on The Network, an entry-level scheme held during the Edinburgh TV Festival. The Network is how I got my first runner job and I doubt I would have got a place on the scheme if it wasn’t for the skills and experience, I gained during my MA.”

Beth Hewitt, Creative Director - Media City Directorate, said: "To see Maeve presenting such an important and worthwhile piece of journalism was so good! She is a star both behind and in front of the camera. As a postgraduate student at Salford, Maeve always persevered and never gave up! When she joined the Media postgraduate programme, it was not as an experienced film-maker, but as someone with a story to tell, with her own vision and voice and for me this has always been such an important factor. Our MA Media Production programmes are open to those who have a passion for telling stories, visually, through the moving image. I am so proud of Maeve, she never failed to work extremely hard, always pushing herself on, creatively and through a mixture of determination and ambition, Maeve has achieved her dreams - deservedly so."

Watch Maeve presenting Newsround.