This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Format | Online, Magazine, Satire, Sketch |
---|---|
School | University College London |
Founder(s) | René Lavanchy |
Publisher | UCL Students Union |
President | Lily Park |
Editor | Nick Miao and Sirjan Narang |
Founded | September 2004 (as a newspaper) |
Headquarters | Students' Union UCL |
City | London |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sister newspapers | Women's Wrongs, Greater Expectations |
Website | cheesegratermagazine |
The Cheese Grater is a student satirical and investigative magazine produced at University College London by a society of UCL Union, a students' union. The Cheese Grater publishes a articles covering student politics, news, investigations, satire and cartoons. Its stories are frequently critical of the UCL Union. It was first published in March 2004, and was named London's best student publication in the 2022 Student Publication Association awards, and has won the UCL Students' Union Publication of the Year Award 8 times since 2005. [1] The Cheese Grater is also the largest publication at UCL in terms of readership, membership and online following, despite being the alternative paper to the mainstream Pi Magazine. The Cheese Grater has also won the most national student publication awards of any UCL publication in the 21st century.
The Cheese Grater was founded by René Lavanchy, a former member of Pi Magazine , the only significant UCL student publication at the time. The society was affiliated on 12 February 2004[ citation needed ] and the first issue was published on 25 March 2004. [2] [ original research? ]
In October 2008, an article in issue 18 was censored by Communications and Services Officer Charlie Clinton, leading the magazine to instead publish a story condemning his interference.[ citation needed ]
In 2016, The Cheese Grater launched a sister publication, Grater Expectations; an irregularly published feminist zine focusing on absurdist humour and art. The sister publication now goes under the name "Women's Wrongs" after a revival in 2022. The revival saw Women's Wrongs win the award for best publication at the 2023 UCL Art's Awards, with the publication also being nominated for best newcomer at the SPA national awards.
In February 2005, The Cheese Grater published a special report accusing UCL Union sabbatical officer David Renton of laziness, incompetence and general neglect of his duties.[ citation needed ]
In March 2006 the magazine revealed – using the evidence of a leaked e-mail – that then student editor of Pi Magazine Simon Dedman had cheated in recent UCL Union elections, securing the election of Nick Barnard as Media and Communications Officer, and that neither person had been significantly disciplined for it.[ citation needed ]
In February 2011, The Cheese Grater published documents from UCL Academic Board meetings which revealed the potential impact of government higher education cuts at UCL. The findings suggested a £35 million budget shortfall for UCL even if it were to charge the full £9,000 undergraduate tuition fee. Following the publication of this article, the documents revealing this were removed from the UCL website. The article was later picked up by Times Higher Education, who published a piece using the magazine's findings on 24 February 2011. [3]
In March 2012, The Cheese Grater investigated UCL's bid to build a second London campus in Stratford, uncovering local residents' objections to the potential demolition of their homes and inadequacies in Newham Council's consultation process. The story was later picked up by The Guardian and other national news sources. [4]
In 2021 the magazine launched an investigation into sexual harassment, intimidation, and bullying committed by UCL Security in Halls of Residence throughout the 2020–2021 academic year. The five month long investigation saw two of its writers uncover vast alleged abuses committed by UCL Security staff resulting in the publication of victims recollections of the alleged abuses. The article resulted in UCL launching an investigation, of which its findings have still not been published. [5]
In the Winter 2022 issue, Neil Majithia and Elettra Plati penned a brilliant exposé of UCL sports societies and their initiative activities. With commendable and extensive research, Neil and Elettra exposed the initiation rituals of UCL's most prolific sports societies. In doing this, the pair brought the toxic culture of Team UCL to the fore of attention and they subsequently won the Best News Piece award at the 2023 SPA Awards. https://cheesegratermagazine.org/2022/11/18/chun-buckets-everywhere-how-initiation-ceremonies-ruin-the-freshers-experience/
In 2022 the magazine published an article strongly criticising UCL's decision to cut ties with Stonewall, the article was widely received with both praise and criticism after it reached over 60,000 people on social media. The article exposed procedural inconsistencies, and lobbying by an established inter-departmental network of gender critical feminists amongst UCL's academic staff. [6]
The 2023/24 academic year saw numerous pressing articles published. Robert Delaney's investigation into UCL History's redundancy process was met with critical acclaim and was picked up by the UCU, causing the Trade Union to go into industrial dispute with the department. Moreover, Mads Brown's piece on transphobia at the Institute of Education not only won Best Media Piece at the Students' Union Arts Awards, it also pushed the IOE to start a new work shop in conjunction with the Cheese Grater editors around trans identity and visibility in the faculty. Additionally, Rebekah Wright's investigation into Provost Michael Spence's connection to an anti-LGBTQ Charity saw great reception from queer communities within UCL, causing questions to be asked of the Provost's stance on LGBTQ issues, alongside a potential conflict of interest between his charity and his role as the head of UCL. Nick Miao, the SU Correspondent for the 2023/24 academic year, also published numerous pieces on the Students' Union, oftentimes in conjunction with Robert Delaney and Andrea Bidnic's additional pieces and reporting. The revival of Union scrutiny by Nick saw the readjustment of the SU Media Relations Team to pay better attention to student media at UCL after years of relative inactivity post-Covid.
Members of the Cheese Grater Magazine Society founded the UCL Graters sketch comedy group in 2011. As the magazine was founded due to dissatisfaction with UCL's student media, so the UCL Graters were created due to dissatisfaction with UCL's student comedy scene. The group's cast changes yearly, tending to focus on darker and more absurd humour than UCL's Comedy Club and the MDs Comedy Revue. The group is run by the society's Show Coordinator, who directs the group in writing and performing their own material at shows in UCL and around London.
The Graters reached the semi-finals of the Leicester Square Theatre Sketch-Off in 2016, [7] and were described as "exemplary" by the Wee Review for their 2017 Fringe show. [8]
The Graters have performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival every year since their founding at various venues, including the Underbelly and Just the Tonic. The Fringe was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Graters returned to Edinburgh in 2021. The Graters continued their fringe visits in 2022 and 2023.
Award | Year [lower-alpha 1] | Category | Nominee(s) / work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Students' Union UCL Arts Awards | 2006 | Best Student Publication | The Cheese Grater | Won | [ citation needed ] |
2007 | Best Student Publication | The Cheese Grater | Won | [ citation needed ] | |
2008 | Best Student Publication | The Cheese Grater | Won | [ citation needed ] | |
2009 | Best Student Publication | The Cheese Grater | Won | [ citation needed ] | |
2010 | Best Student Publication | The Cheese Grater | Nominated | [ citation needed ] | |
2011 | Best Student Publication | The Cheese Grater | Won | [ citation needed ] | |
2012 | Best Student Publication | The Cheese Grater | Nominated | [ citation needed ] | |
2012 | Best Garage Theatre Show | "Julian Ignores His Friends And Talks To A Pretty Girl" | Won | [ citation needed ] | |
2014 | Best Student Publication | The Cheese Grater | Won | [ citation needed ] | |
2014 | Diversity & Inclusion | The Cheese Grater | Won | [ citation needed ] | |
2016 | Most Improved Society | The Cheese Grater | Won | [ citation needed ] | |
2023 | Best Student Publication | Women's Wrongs | Won | [23] | |
2023 | Best Media Piece | "Chun Buckets Everywhere: How initiation ceremonies ruin the freshers experience" | Won | [23] | |
2024 | Best Student Publication | The Cheese Grater | Won | [24] | |
2023 | Best Media Piece | "TERF out Transphobia: The IOE and “Academic Freedom”" | Won | [25] | |
Derek Award | 2021 | Spirit of the Fringe | "Post Humour" | Won | [26] |
Guardian Student Media Award | 2006 | Best Small Budget Publication | The Cheese Grater | Won | [27] |
2007 | Best Magazine | The Cheese Grater | Nominated | [ citation needed ] | |
Student Publication Association | 2022 | Best Publication – London region | The Cheese Grater | Won | [28] |
2023 | Best Creative Piece | Mathilde Turner (for "Naked yoga: a belligerent ode to the pussy") | Nominated | [29] | |
2023 | Best News Story | Neil Majithia and Elettra Plati (for "Chun Buckets Everywhere: How initiation ceremonies ruin the freshers experience") | Won | [30] | |
2023 | Billy Dowling-Reid Award for Outstanding Commitment | Nandini Agarwal | Nominated | [29] | |
2024 | Best Creative Piece | “Keir Starmer... A Day in the Life” by Ben Scanlan | Highly Commended | [31] | |
2024 | Best Newcomer | Women’s Wrongs | Highly Commended | [31] |
The constitution of the Magazine states the society must have three executive officers, the President, Treasurer, and Welfare Officer. The editorial structure of the publication consists of two Co-Editors-In-Chief, two Co-Investigations Editors, an Online Editor, and a Humour Editor. The magazine committee has also incorporated a Socials and Community Outreach Officer, Sketch Director, Sketch Producer, and Graphics Editor as it has expanded. The position of Zine Editor was created following the launch of the magazines sister publication.
All positions are elected through the Students Union of UCL. The elected positions form the committee.
Richard Keith Herring is an English stand-up comedian and writer whose early work includes the comedy double act Lee and Herring. He is described by The British Theatre Guide as "one of the leading hidden masters of modern British comedy".
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 different shows in 322 venues. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place in Edinburgh every August. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has become a world-leading celebration of arts and culture, surpassed only by the Olympics and the World Cup in terms of global ticketed events.
Students' Union UCL is the students' union of University College London. Founded in 1893, it is one of the oldest students' unions in England, although postdating the Liverpool Guild of Students which formed a student representative council in 1892. It was formed with the following objectives: "the promotion of social intercourse and of the means of recreation, physical and mental, of the students of University College, and the financial successes of students' clubs". UCL Union was the first of its kind as it was formed for both athletics clubs and social activities alike.
James Anthony Patrick Carr is a British-Irish comedian, presenter, writer and actor. He is known for his rapid-fire deadpan delivery of one-liners which have been known to offend some people. He began his comedy career in 1997, and he has regularly appeared on television as the host of Channel 4 panel shows such as 8 Out of 10 Cats, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and The Big Fat Quiz of the Year.
UCL Pi Media is the oldest and largest student journalism society at University College London Union. Initially launched as a newspaper in 1946 and named after former Provost David Pye, it now publishes on three platforms: Pi Online, Pi Magazine and PiTV.
Robin Ince is an English comedian, actor and writer, known for presenting the BBC radio show The Infinite Monkey Cage with physicist Brian Cox, creating Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People, co-creating The Cosmic Shambles Network, and his stand-up comedy career.
London Student is a student paper, originally the official student newspaper of the University of London Union. It began publishing in 1979 and was at one point the largest student-run newspaper in Europe. At that time it was published weekly in term-time and printed in Gloucestershire, before being distributed to around 50 London sites including non-university further and higher education establishments, such as Polytechnics, overnight. It was financed by a combination of university grant and advertising. The editor was elected annually by other student journalists who had worked on the paper as a sabbatical from studies, and there was one staff member, a business manager and advertising sales person. The paper stopped publishing in 2014 after the University of London withdrew funding, but relaunched itself online the following year under a new editorial team. It is now an independent publication with ultimate control over content and appointments vested in the editorial team as a worker co-operative.
The Skinny is a monthly free magazine distributed in venues throughout the cities of Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland. Founded in 2005, the magazine features interviews and articles on music, art, film, comedy and other aspects of culture across Scotland and beyond.
The Oxford Revue is a comedy group primarily featuring students from Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University, England. Founded in the early 1950s, The Oxford Revue has produced many prominent comedians, actors and satirists. The Revue writes, produces and performs several shows each term in the pubs and theatres around Oxford, as well as touring to cities in the United Kingdom and performing a month-long run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival every year.
Roar News is the student newspaper of King's College London. It is editorially independent of both the university and the students' union.
Broadway Baby is a British online review guide and arts news website which launched in 2004. It is the most prolific reviewing publication at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 2012 onward. It contains reviews of music, comedy, theatre and dance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Brighton Fringe, Camden Fringe and year-round in London and Central Scotland. Formerly, a printed version was also published.
Barry Ferns is a British stand up comedian, writer, director, and a trained physiotherapist. Barry is also one of the founding members of Angel Comedy.
Jason Forbes is a British actor, writer, comedian, impressionist, and TV presenter. He is best known for the CITV series Horrible Science; The Mash Report on BBC Two; as PC Peasey in the Professor Branestawm television films on BBC One; and as a member of the award-winning sketch trio 'Daphne'.
Mohammed Tehzeeb Ilyas, popularly known as "Tez" Ilyas, is a British stand-up comedian. He is best known for starring in the BBC Three comedy, Man Like Mobeen and presenting the satirical comedy programme, The Tez O'Clock Show on Channel 4.
Ahir Shah is a British comedian. He was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017, 2018 and won the award in 2023, and was a finalist in the 2008 So You Think You're Funny? competition for new acts. He has been called "one of his generation's most eloquent comic voices".
Mat Ewins is an English actor, writer and stand-up comedian.
John-Luke Roberts is a British stand-up comedian, writer, actor and performer.
Ellie White is an English comedy actress. She is best known for playing Princess Beatrice of York in the British royal family parody The Windsors (2016–2020) and Katia in the sitcom Stath Lets Flats (2018–2021).
Austentatious (An Improvised Jane Austen Novel) is a long-form improvised comedy show, in the style of a Jane Austen novel, where each show is improvised by a six-strong cast, based on a title suggested by a member of the audience. Beginning in 2011 in London, the original cast members took the show to the Edinburgh Festival Free Fringe in the summer of 2012. Following their initial success, they began performing a monthly show in London, transferring to the West End in 2017, and have since performed on BBC Radio 4, on tour, and at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Milo Leonard Edwards is an English comedian, podcaster and writer. He co-hosts the podcasts Trashfuture, Masters of Our Domain, Toomuch (Тумач), and Glue Factory. He has performed comedy in both English and Russian, including on the shows Open Microphone and StandUp. He has been a comedy writer for Late Night Mash, Mock the Week, Hello America, Breaking The News and The News Quiz and has written for Private Eye and The New Statesman.