Elizabeth Conway. Remember the name because we predict a rise to stardom for this plucky presenter and journalist from right here in Brum
If Elizabeth Conway isn’t a familiar face by next year we’ll be very surprised. Currently a freelance sports journalist and presenter, Elizabeth is brimming with energy, bags of talent and joy for her craft and to say we reckon she’s the next Gabby Logan is bang-on for this proud Brummie.
Even at secondary school Elizabeth had that rare thing of knowing what she wanted to do with her life. She says: “I loved writing and chatting to people and I also loved sport, so sports journalism was the obvious choice.” She’s not too shabby a sports woman either, decent at hockey and cricket as well as county level table tennis among others.
At the University of Birmingham studying Spanish and English, Elizabeth joined various societies and got involved with student radio and TV. She also spent a year in Madrid where she covered the Champions League Final and translated and interpreted for Spanish stars and the media.
SPANISH TIKTOK
When Covid stopped play in 2020 and there were no events to report on, Elizabeth trained to be a Spanish teacher and also started a TikTok account, @spanishandsport teaching her followers the language. She amassed more than 70,000 followers and her engaging videos have reached six million views and counting. She never lost sight of her ultimate goal though and thankfully once sport returned Elizabeth was back following her dreams recognising Spanish as a massive bonus in terms of being able to cover global events.
Elizabeth was selected as one of the top 100 young journalists in the world to represent Great Britain at the Thomson Reuters Future News Worldwide conference in 2019, she’s a freelance BBC sport journalist, a presenter and journalist for GiveMeSport Women and a proud member of BCOMS (Black Collective of Media in Sport) working toward greater diversity in sports media.
RISING ROLE
Most recently was selected to join the Hundred Rising – a bunch of talented young journalists picked to cover the ECB’s new Hundred tournament. Elizabeth co-hosts the Edgbaston fixtures, out in the crowd interviewing fans. The scheme also means accessing workshops with the likes of Vic Hope and Radzi Chinyanganya. Elizabeth says: “Vic’s a linguist like me and Radzi had a similar start to me through an open talent search. I learnt so much.”
The Commonwealth Games would be an obvious time to shine for Elizabeth and hopefully the Hundred Rising will be a springboard to that. She feels media is becoming less London-centric as demonstrated by the use of local talent by the ECB. She explains: “In the past it might have been difficult for someone like me relying on travelling to London and all the financial commitments that go with that. With the BBC branching out regionally and the Commonwealth Games in my hometown in 2022, it feels like the start of something.”