Unwin Charitable Trust Grants available for another year

The Unwin Charitable Trust (UCT) have announced that they will once again make their grant scheme available to The Publishing Training Centre’s students this year. The grant is offered to small companies and freelancers and helps to fund attendance on training courses offered by The Publishing Training Centre (PTC).

Emma Grisewood is a Freelance Editor who attended our Digital Proofreading course last year. Emma was eligible to receive funding from the UCT Grant Scheme, which donated £150 towards her course fees. We caught up with her to see what she was up to now and how the course has had an impact on the way she works.

How has your current role developed in the last twelve months?

I am still freelance, mainly project-managing and content-editing course material for young EFL learners, at primary and secondary levels.

What was the most important thing you learnt on our Digital Proofreading course?

It was great to have some dedicated time to reflect on the differences between digital and print products. Now, I would like to extend that knowledge and do the course on Digital Editing (when I can fit it in).

Since attending the course, what positive impact has it had on the way in which you work?

The most useful thing I learnt was to how to mark up proofs digitally. This can really help on some projects to turn things around quickly and avoids having to explain in an email very long-windedly where exactly you want that full stop inserted!

What was your alternative option if The Unwin Trust Grant Scheme was not available?

I think that if The Unwin Trust Grant Scheme was not available, I would probably not have been able to do the course, or contemplate doing others in the future. It’s a really valuable resource for freelancers, who otherwise might struggle to afford professional development courses like these.

What projects are you currently working on?

One of the joys of being freelance is lots of variety in your work. At the moment, I’m working on projects for secondary and for primary, including the Macmillan Natural and Social Science course for children studying science in English and Popcorn Readers, which are graded readers published by Scholastic and based on popular films, TV series, and classic children’s literature.

More about the Unwin Charitable Trust Grant Scheme:

The Unwin Charitable Trust (UCT) set up a grant scheme to assist small companies and freelancers pay for training courses offered by The Publishing Training Centre (PTC). This scheme gives students the opportunity to receive the best in publishing training but with a substantial discount to the course fee.

Applying for this grant couldn't be simpler. All you have to do is make a provisional booking on any PTC short course, at least 21 days before the course starts, and request a UCT £150 Grant at the time of booking. Return the course registration form to the PTC as soon as possible, to confirm your place on the course.

Finally, you will be invoiced for the course fee (incorporating 10% small company or freelance discount) minus the £150 grant, approximately three weeks before the course starts.

Each successful applicant will be granted £150. This is limited to one per individual in a 12 month period to use on any of the PTC's short courses.

UCT grants cannot be used in conjunction with any other grant or assisted funding scheme administered by PTC and grants cannot be allocated after the invoice has been raised.

When booking, PTC staff may question enquirers to ensure that they fulfil the criteria.

For full details on the UCT Grant and other discounts we offer, please visit our Discounts and Funding page.