Peter Sands has worked in newspapers for almost 30 years as a writer, editor, executive, entrepreneur, trainer, designer and consultant.
He began his journalistic career in 1977 as a graduate trainee on the Weekly News in his home town of North Shields.
Two years later he moved to Darlington where we worked on The Northern Echo and the late Evening Despatch, becoming editor of The Northern Echo at the age of 34.
During his editorship the paper was redesigned, taken into colour and won a string of awards including the National Design Award and the Campaign for Freedom of Information Award.
After four years he was promoted to the senior executive team at Westminster Press where, among other roles, he was a director of UK News.
In 1995, when Pearson was in the process of selling Westminster Press, Sands bought the company’s award-winning training centre in Hastings. He transformed it into the Editorial Centre, a training, design and consultancy business serving newspapers and magazines.
Since then he has redesigned 80 newspapers and magazines, trained countless journalists, helped run the Daily Mirror’s Academy of Excellence, set up journalism diplomas in Ireland, the Channel Islands and Malta and assisted newspapers in their strategic approaches.
In 2004 the Editorial Centre went into partnership with Press Association to create Press Association Training. Sands is now Consultant Editor with the company. His clients include The Sun, the Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, the Irish Examiner, the Times of Malta, The Jersey Evening Post, the Guernsey Press and most regional newspaper groups.
He is also chairman of the judges in the Regional Press Awards and sits on the judging panel for the British Press Awards.
