Award-winning sports broadcaster Laura Woods has been awarded an honorary doctorate from Kingston University for her outstanding contribution to journalism and promoting women in sport.
Ms Woods, who graduated from Kingston in 2008 with a BA (Hons) in Print Journalism, was made an Honorary Doctor of Art at a recent winter graduation ceremony.
She said: "Receiving this award has made me more emotional than I can imagine. The encouragement I got from my lecturers prepared me for the career I have in the best possible way – I have so much to thank the university for."
Ms Woods began her career as a production runner at Sky Sports before rising through the ranks to take on presenting roles.
She first appeared on screen for Sky Sports’ YouTube darts coverage, then reported on the NFL, before gaining wider recognition in 2018 as a pitchside reporter on Super Sunday.
She has since presented Premier League football for Amazon Prime Sports and anchored TalkSPORT’s Breakfast Show, which won an Audio & Radio Industry Award (ARIA) for best show during her tenure.
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Ms Woods has twice been named best presenter by the Sports Journalists’ Association and also received the title at the Sports Broadcast Awards for her work on ITV’s coverage of the 2022 men’s World Cup and the 2023 women’s European Championship.
She joined ITV in 2021 and is now the lead presenter for TNT Sports’ UEFA Champions League coverage, as well as its boxing programming.
Beyond her broadcasting career, she is a vocal campaigner for equality in sport and media and appeared in the documentary Game On: The Unstoppable Rise of Women’s Sport.
Addressing graduates at the ceremony, she offered advice for the future.
She said: "Always work hard but always be authentic, you really are the only person that can do you and do it well. You have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, it’s the only way you can grow, so trust in yourself and be bold, brave and unapologetic."
Her former lecturer Beth Brewster, now head of the Department of Journalism, Publishing and Media, said: "She’s achieved so much and this recognition couldn’t be more fitting."
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