Please see the latest opportunities listed below. If you are interested in any of them, please email [email protected].

Brainiac Live!

What? Due to popular demand and following its 2025 Olivier Award for Best Family Show, Science’s greatest and most volatile live show is back with a vengeance and coming to Birmingham Town Hall.

More mischievous than ever before, Brainiac Live! explodes on stage and will take you on a breathless ride through the wild world of the weird and wonderful.

To go along to the press performance and write a review for First News, please get in touch by 4pm on Friday 19 December.

When? Sunday 28 December at 2pm

Where? Birmingham Town Hall, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B3 3DQ

Lanterns of the Wild at Twycross Zoo

What? This winter, Twycross Zoo will be transformed into a breathtaking illuminated wonderland after dark with the launch of Lanterns of the Wild, a new evening event featuring immersive, epic-scale lanterns celebrating eight continents across the natural world and including the World’s first Gruffalo lanterns experience. A junior journalist is invited to go along and write a review of the experience for First News.

When? Until 22 February 2026

Where? Twycross Zoo, Burton Road, Atherstone, CV9 3PX

The Brunel Museum’s 200-year celebrations

What? The Brunel Museum has announced that it will run a series of events and activities to celebrate its 200 years since construction started on the Thames Tunnel!

This is the local story of an engineering family that changed the world. As well as building the world’s first underwater tunnel through soft ground under a navigable river, the Brunels hosted the first underwater concert party here in 1827.

Families are invited to join the fun by coming down and designing their own handheld fan, with a junior journalist writing a review of the day for First News.

When? Any day

Where? The Brunel Museum, Railway Ave, London SE16 4LF

Write a book review and have it featured in First News!

Do you have thoughts on a book you have read recently that you want to share with others? Why not write a book review for us? Here’s what you’ll need to do:

• Write 100-120 words on any type of book – chapter books, graphic novels, fiction, non-fiction… even audiobooks are all welcome! No person, reader type, format or genre is excluded
• Tell us what the book is about, what you most enjoyed about it, how the book made you feel and if you had any favourite parts
• Suggest which type of reader would enjoy it
• A picture of the reader holding the book is welcome, too, but not essential
• You could even submit a review as a whole class

Send all book reviews in to [email protected] or by clicking the button below.

Feature in Your News!

If you want to be a junior journalist for First News and go to cool press events or write about something that you’re passionate about, get in touch by asking a trusted adult to email us at [email protected].