A BBC journalist imparted words of wisdom to students at Richmond School who were rewarded for their academic endeavour.

Former Northern Echo journalist Owen Amos is about to take up a new position as a feature writer for the BBC, based in Washington DC, USA, and told students at a presentation evening that they should consider failure as a means to enjoying future success.

Mr Amos was addressing students from Richmond School years 7 to 13 who were recognised for their efforts in academia, sport, the arts and community, in specific subject areas and in GCSE and A level exams.

He said: “If you want to be successful I can guarantee that at some stage you will fail but the important thing is how you deal with that failure and to keep going.

“Even during my time at the BBC I have been turned down for at least a dozen jobs and after writing a book was dismissed by about eight publishers before finally going to print.”

Mr Amos is a former Richmond School pupil.