Competition Winner John McManus will travel to AC Milan and Real Madrid to report online for UK’s top newspaper

A Masters student at Oxford University is set to spend the next four weeks in the company of some of the biggest clubs in world football, after winning a sports writer competition sponsored by bwin, the leading online gaming provider and shirt sponsor of AC Milan and Real Madrid, in association with The Independent newspaper.

24 year-old John McManus of Leicester was announced as the winner of the much-coveted prize and will travel across the continent reporting on the independent.co.uk news site from some of the biggest events in European sport.

After an extensive search through hundreds of strong entries, Leicester City fan McManus’ report on Turkish football was deemed the worthy winner of the ‘dream job’. John will report on home matches at AC Milan, Bayern Münich and Real Madrid, with all expenses covered by bwin.

Before sampling the delights of top flight European football, roving reporter McManus will begin his journalistic experience by exclusively covering the Estoril Moto GP, also sponsored by bwin, for The Independent on October 4th.

The competition was launched in The Independent in September 2009, and required sports fans and budding reporters to submit a 400 word article on a sporting event of their choice. All entries were judged by The Independent’s award winning sports team and a shortlist was produced, from which McManus’ entry was selected. The five short-listed candidates and McManus’ entry can be found online: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/bwin-sports-writer-competition-the-runnersup-1793170.html,

John McManus, winner of the competition, said: “I can’t believe I am being given this fantastic opportunity by bwin and The Independent and can’t wait to get a glimpse into the life of a sports reporter.”

Jimmy Leach, Editorial Director for Digital at The Independent said: “Over four fantastic weekends, John will blog and tweet for The Independent and take his first steps into sports journalism – a once in a lifetime opportunity for any budding reporter.”

“Congratulations to John – this competition represents a once in a lifetime opportunity for a young writer to make his mark in the world of sports journalism, covering top class football from some of Europe’s greatest stadiums and experiencing the thrill of the Moto GP. We are sure he will grab the opportunity with both hands and produce some fantastic articles.” said Kevin O’Neal, Press Officer at bwin.