One of the highlights of my time as a Sander Thoenes intern was meeting a group of women setting up their own micro-businesses in one of the sprawling suburbs of Mexico City. A group of 20 women from the barrio told us about setting up a business making clothes and selling food, and how they worked together to pay back their shared loan.

This is what the Sander Thoenes prize is about—giving young reporters a chance to work in the main newsroom in London but also to travel and to write.

I had a fantastic time with the FT, apart from a short trip to Mexico for a Special Report, I also had a chance to spend half the internship in the Brussels bureau, reporting on everything from the European Commission’s anti-trust case against Microsoft to immigration, Schengen and overfishing in the Mediterranean.

Here and in London, I was welcomed by everyone and helped along the way. I had an opportunity to work with some great reporters and editors, whose help and advice was invaluable.

I would thoroughly recommend the internship to any aspiring foreign correspondent who wants a chance to work at one of the most respected global news organisations.

Read Tom Burgis’ account, the 2006 prize winner and Siew Hua Seah, the 2005 prize winner.