UCA students guest edit ELLE magazine

Three UCA students guest edited the October 2012 issue of ELLE magazine

Three students from the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) at Epsom have guest edited this month's ELLE magazine.

Carly Allen, Sophia Chemaitelli and Mariella Agapiou are part of a group of 11 winning interns who were given the opportunity to compile the October issue of ELLE, the world's biggest fashion magazine.

Sophia Chemaitelli, who is about to go into her second year of BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion & Imaging at UCA Epsom, won the Intern role of Picture Editor.

Sophia Chemaitelli, UCA Epsom graduate and ELLE Picture Editor Intern. Photo by Henry Bourne. The 20-year-old from Chessington, Surrey, said: "It was amazing and scary to be putting an edition of ELLE together knowing that what you were doing was going to be seen by hundreds of thousands of people. It was such a sense of achievement to build a feature from scratch with all of the different teams in the office.

"The highlight for me from the whole experience was holding the published issue in my hands for the first time - words can't describe the feeling."

Recent MA Fashion & Lifestyle Journalism graduate, Mariella Agapiou, 23, from Bromley, Kent, won the Features Editor Intern position.

Mariella Agapiou, UCA Epsom graduate and ELLE Features Editor Intern. Photo by Henry Bourne. Mariella said: "It was great putting the magazine together. I learned so much about the production and planning that goes into making such a fabulous title. I'm certain those skills be with me throughout my career but also help me land my dream job."

Third year BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion & Imaging student Carly Allen, 24, Southampton, won the Art Editor Intern position.

Carly Allen said: "Putting together the pages of Elle was inspiring. My university course has taught me how to use in design, but working under the pressure of magazine deadlines put a completely different spin on it, one that I enjoyed."

Carly Allen, UCA Epsom student and ELLE Art Editor Intern. Photo by Henry Bourne. In June this year, ELLE launched a competition to search for the country's best interns who were then paid to edit the October 2012 issue.

The ground-breaking Edited by the Interns 2012 initiative is designed to nurture new talent and help the next generation of fashion and media stars to launch their careers in publishing.

It is the first time that ELLE have handed the magazine over in this way and tasked the interns to fill its pages with interviews, insider tips and behind-the-scenes observations.

ELLE Editor-in-chief Lorraine Candy said: "Edited by the Interns 2012 has provided these talented interns with a once in a lifetime opportunity to contribute to the production of the world's biggest fashion magazine.

"The interns have worked extremely hard on the October issue and it's fantastic that they'll be able to share their experiences with ELLE readers across a range of platforms, including social media, blogs and mobile."

ELLE 'Edited by the Interns' winners. Photo by Henry Bourne. Sophia added: "If I wasn't doing my degree at UCA, I wouldn't have built up the knowledge needed and confidence in myself to believe I could win the competition. Also, one of the photographs I took for my 1st year styling module is featured in the issue, so that's a very big deal."