About Our Journalism Course

The Professional Freelance Journalism Course, provided by the Morris Journalism Academy is your first step to becoming a successful freelance writer.

This course is designed to accomplish three things:

To equip you with the knowledge and skills required to become a freelance journalist either as a full or part-time career, or as a profitable sideline.
To teach you how to write a feature article, pitch your ideas and see your work published. This will provide you with a valuable portfolio of published material, knowledge and skills to assist with gaining entry-level employment as a journalist in mainstream media.
To develop more general writing skills, so you can achieve success in other areas such as PR (public relations) and marketing, or writing a blog.

There is a big secret to freelance journalism for profit: finding success as a freelance journalist isn’t that difficult. Here’s another secret: the business of freelance journalism is not necessarily about award-winning writing, it’s about competent writing. Thousands of newspapers and magazines are constantly on the lookout for competent material. Note we say “competent” – they are not looking for literary masterpieces.

Australians are among the biggest purchasers and consumers of newspapers and magazines in the world. For anyone planning to become a freelance journalist, this is the best news you will ever read.

There are an estimated 4,500 magazine titles alone available in Australia. This does not take into account metropolitan newspapers, regional newspapers, community newspapers, corporate publications, websites and a host of other possible markets for the freelance journalist.

The Professional Freelance Journalism Course teaches you every trick of the trade to write for these markets. At the end of this course you will have the knowledge and skills to write for anyone, on any subject and be paid for your writing effort.

Let us show you how.

What you will learn

With guidance from your specially assigned tutor, this course is focused on developing your article writing skills. Through the course, we will show you how to tap into your already existing areas of interest or knowledge to produce quality work, ready to be published. To reach this point, we will help you develop skills such as:

Coming up with ideas
Finding a market
Deciding on your story angle
Presenting and selling your idea
Researching your idea
Interviewing

Drafting
Writing with structure
Editing
Submitting your copy
Seeking payment
Maintaining discipline

Course structure

The Professional Freelance Journalism Course is delivered by distance learning or correspondence as it is sometimes called. The course is strongly supported by email or student portal and, for questions that can’t wait, telephone support is also provided by our student services coordinators.

The Professional Freelance Journalism Course consists of 12 tutorials, delivered weekly or fortnightly, over 12 or 24 weeks. During this time you will be tutored in all aspects of journalism by a team of Australia’s most experienced journalists and editors. This vast wealth of accumulated knowledge is provided to you together with the ways to apply this knowledge to the areas of journalism that most interest you.

We also understand about time constraints. Hence, your course is self-paced and, if you wish, you may take longer than 12 or 24 weeks to complete it. If necessary, you may take up to a year to finish your course of studies.

GET YOUR COURSE GUIDE & FREE MINI-TUTORIAL

Complete the form below to receive your free course guide and course updates by email.

"Now, I have a portfolio of work featured in several different publications – one of my humour pieces even made it to the Huffington Post’s front page. I’ve built great relationships with editors, which has led to a steady stream of commissions."

Emily F

Paul S

"As a student with life, business, and professional experience, I was fortunate to find the Morris Journalism Academy via an Internet search because it was just what I was looking for. That is, a self paced, online, freelance journalism course rich in content and practical advice from the experts – those who had 'been there and done that'."

Brittany B

"The Professional Freelance Journalism Course provided by the Morris Journalism Academy equipped me with many of the skills I use on a daily basis as a TV Presenter. It also supplied me with the knowledge of how to effectively apply them."

"Thanks to course notes developed by industry professionals, I knew how to approach, and how to not approach, a busy editor. As a result, I just had my first feature-length article published in the Australian outdoor magazine Great Walks and received my first pay cheque."

Anita M