TMA Step Up Scheme: Applications for the 2026 programme are now open!
Start your application today.
The Travel Media Awards recognises the importance of cultivating and uplifting people from different backgrounds to strengthen the industry by better reflecting the diversity within the UK. To address this, Step Up was launched in 2023 to drive diversity and inclusion in travel media for young people.
Now in its third year, there are 9 leading travel organisations offering eight weeks of placements to successful candidates. The complete list of partners for 2026 are:
Journalism partners: APL Media, Metro, The Sun and TTG Media
PR partners: easyJet holidays, FINN Partners, Intrepid Travel, Kuoni and Virgin Atlantic
Travel Media Awards Step Up interns also have the opportunity to receive a further six months of mentoring. Winners are also invited to the Travel Media Awards 2026, to continue their travel media journey, be that consumer, trade or PR.
The Step Up programme is open to anyone aged 18-30 who can demonstrate a passion for travel media and identifies as coming from an underrepresented demographic. Applicants must be residents of the UK.
Step Up useful links
Have questions or want to find out more about the Step Up scheme? Click the links below to learn more.
Step Up partners
Step Up FAQs
Step Up: Sample job specification
Step Up: How to succeed in the workplace
*Sources
- In journalism, research from Statista shows 12% of the UK workforce belong to a non-white ethnic group, while this group makes up 18% of the population. In PR, it’s 10%; in publishing, 15%.
- A recent study published by Statista shows 59% of journalists are male, compared with the population average of 49%; in PR, there’s a skew in the other direction – 67% of the industry is female, according to the PRCA.
- The outlook is more positive for LGBTQ+ representation, and it’s important to maintain these figures. In the UK, around 10% of the population identify as LGBTQ+. In the publishing industry, Publishers Assocation data shows 13% of staff are LGBTQ+.
- In the UK, around 24% of the population have a disability. In journalism, one data set from the NCTJ shows a comparable 22% having a disability or a work-limiting health problem. Meanwhile, in the publishing industry, just 13% have a disability; in PR, 4%.
- Data from Press Gazette shows 80% of journalists come from households with professional occupations, yet only 33% of the country fall into this demographic, indicating an over-representation of middle- and upper-class voices in UK journalism. The data for the publishing industry is 67%, according to the Publishers Association.
Information accurate as of 2023.