Example commission · I
Who is contemporary art really for?
Dialogue
Vol. III Cohort 2026
A one-to-one editorial fellowship for GCSE and Sixth-Form students.
- Two articles
- One supervisor
- End-to-end bespoke guidance
§ I
What Dialogue Is
Dialogue is a structured editorial fellowship built around the development of two meaningful articles of high-quality journalism.
Each participant works one-to-one with an editor over the course of the programme to take two ideas from initial interest through to fully developed, publication-ready pieces of writing.
The fellowship runs across a defined editorial cycle from Spring to Autumn 2026. Participants work through stages of drafting and revision in direct exchange with an editor. Interaction is structured around feedback on written work, pre-recorded webinars and active personal communication rather than workshops or group sessions.
Participants produce two complete pieces of writing by the end of the process. These are then published by Per Capita Media, a national student newspaper founded in Cambridge and open to all.
Beyond a small number of introductory recorded lectures, all progress is driven by editorial feedback on the participant’s own work. Participants begin with a question they are curious about and receive one-on-one guidance and feedback as they work through the programme.
Questions may come from economics, politics, history, law, science, technology, the arts, or lived experience. These categories are not treated as boundaries. Strong work often moves across them.
What matters is not subject area, but whether the question can sustain investigation, evidence, and revision.
§ II
Pathways
Participants work within a broad editorial pathway while developing a topic of their own. These provide intellectual starting points rather than subject boundaries; strong work often draws on more than one.
Hover or tap a card to read the brief
§ III
The Editorial Process
A structured process is applied to each piece. Six stages; communication and revision are constant.
- Stage I
Learning
Accepted students are introduced to the world of journalism through recorded webinars and short comprehension checks.
- Stage II
Pitching
Students propose five article ideas they would like to develop. Their editor reviews them and selects two to take forward.
- Stage III
Drafting
Once a pitch is approved, students research the topic and produce a first complete draft.
- Stage IV
Editing
The editor responds in writing. Student and editor work back and forth until the piece holds together.
- Stage V
Revision
Substantive editorial review. Claims are tested; structure is reconsidered.
§ IV
Your Editor
Dialogue editors are current students at the University of Cambridge and members of the Per Capita Media editorial team. They read, commission, and edit for the paper throughout the academic year.
Each participant is paired with an editor whose interests and academic background overlap with their own, so that guidance and advice are as targeted, informed and specialised as possible.
Pairings are made after applications have been read in full. An editor is matched to a participant because the editor already knows the territory — the questions, the literatures, the disagreements — that the participant wants to explore.
The result is a working relationship, not a marking scheme: two readers of the same subject, at different stages, working on the same draft.
§ V — Standard
- What is the claim?
- What evidence supports it?
- Where does it fail?
- What remains after revision?
Applied to every submission, regardless of subject.
§ VI
Example commissions
Illustrative questions in the spirit of a Dialogue commission. Volume III commissions will appear here as the editorial team publishes them.
Example commission · II
Can a nation remain united when it contests its own history?
Example commission · III
Discuss the implications of the social media ban and how young people are being used as pawns in British Politics.
Example commission · IV
Is artificial intelligence fostering human unintelligence?
Featured outcomes
Where Dialogue work ends up.
A selection of pieces, developed through the Dialogue editorial process and published on the Per Capita Media website.
Medicine and Biological Sciences
The 2024 Nobel Prize for Medicine celebrates Small Molecules with Big Potential
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Medicine celebrates the discovery of microRNAs, tiny molecules that have completely changed how we understand gene regulation.
Abi Caplan
3 November 2024
Law
The Commons Assisted Dying Debates test the nation’s readiness for change
In March 2024, Sir Keir Starmer committed to reigniting discussion on assisted dying. On 16 October 2024, a new Assisted Dying Bill was formally introduced in the House of Commons by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater.
Abi Caplan
3 November 2024
Medicine and Biological Sciences
Bio-Printing new life, one cell at a time
Bioprinting promises to transform the organ transplant process, addressing donor shortages by enabling custom organs tailored to individual patients with perfect immunocompatibility.
Akshay Suglani
6 October 2024
Technology and Artificial Intelligence
We’re living in a 1930s dystopia dominated by technological advancements and mindless consumerism
Huxley’s 1932 novel portrays a dystopian vision dominated by technological advancements and mindless consumerism, where pleasure is pursued at all costs.
Akshay Suglani
6 October 2024
Medicine and Biological Sciences
The epidemic of youth vaping in the UK is difficult to ignore
Youth vaping has surged dramatically in the UK. The government’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill aims to create a smokefree generation by prohibiting cigarette purchases for those born after January 1, 2009.
Ezinne Obih
6 October 2024
Economics
Lesotho’s food insecurity disaster demands a global government response
On 24 July 2024, Lesotho declared a food insecurity disaster — 580,000 people food insecure out of a 2 million total population. Governments must address this rural poverty crisis.
Kammesh Atputhajeyam
6 October 2024
Medicine and Biological Sciences
Medical challenges for a new era of spaceflight
NASA, the European Space Agency and commercial companies are planning manned missions in space, longer in distance and duration than ever before.
Farrah Bacon
6 October 2024
Economics
The Gig Economy has a corrosive impact in Higher Education, undermining academic stability
The gig economy has reshaped the labour market, promising flexibility and autonomy. Yet beneath its glossy interior lies a more troubling reality, particularly within higher education.
Jabir Dhalla
6 October 2024
Medicine and Biological Sciences
“Cannabis traps men in a cycle of mental health issues”: the untold relationship between drugs and mental health
Cannabis preys on young and mentally vulnerable individuals, trapping many in cycles of mental decline and leading to lifetime mental health struggles.
Yousif Fakri
6 October 2024
Technology and Artificial Intelligence
Empathetic chatbots will revolutionise AI in Medicine
Since the launch of ChatGPT, the use of AI in medicine has exploded. Doctors are not only using AI for administrative purposes, but AI is now used to interpret tests.
Farrah Bacon
7 October 2024
§ VII
What We Look For
We are less interested in polish than in potential.
- — Ability to pursue an idea seriously.
- — Willingness to learn and revise.
- — Responsiveness to criticism.
§ VIII
What You Leave With
Whether published or not, participants leave with experience of an editorial process rarely available before university.
Experience
- Research.
- Argument.
- Revision.
Editorial
- Feedback.
- Drafting.
- Review.
Outcome
- A selected set of work published by Per Capita Media, with opportunity to progress to our writing team.
From the Editors
Dialogue is organised around a simple proposition: some ideas become clearer only when subjected to serious editorial scrutiny.
The fellowship is designed to reward curiosity and daring, regardless of background, prior experience or knowledge. Many strong applications begin with incomplete questions and imperfect drafts. What matters is whether a subject can be investigated carefully, evidenced properly, and revised repeatedly in response to challenge.
Publication remains the standard against which work is assessed. Most pieces are reshaped substantially before reaching that point.
— The Editors, Per Capita Media
§ IX
Applications
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis within each intake cycle and will close should we reach cohort capacity.
Applications close
31 May
Decisions issued
June 2026
Editorial work
Summer 2026
Publication
Summer–Autumn 2026
Dialogue · Vol. III · An Invitation
Bring a question that can withstand scrutiny.
Leave with a piece that can stand in public.
Information for Parents and Teachers
Dialogue is an editorial fellowship rather than a classroom programme. Participants develop two substantial pieces of writing through a structured process of research, drafting, revision, and editorial review. The emphasis is on intellectual inquiry, evidence-based argument, and sustained written work, in collaboration with a supervisor at the University of Cambridge.
The programme is intended for students who wish to engage seriously with a question or subject beyond the requirements of school curricula. Editorial support is individual and focused on the development of each piece of work.
Publication is not always guaranteed, although always aimed for. The process is designed to mirror real editorial conditions in which ideas are refined, challenged, and assessed against public standards.