As the year comes to a close it is traditional to look back on what was and reminisce about the best bits.
Which is why here on The Sprout we’ve looked back and chosen some of our favourite articles from this year that it might be fun to go back and re-read.
Paradox started the year off with this amazing story about a party:
And Joff wrote in to tell us all about the goings-on in Gabalfa, which we’ll hear much more about later on:
Gablafa Youth take the community by storm with a spectacular Christmas party
James Ellis interviews Mary Elizabeth Williams:
Interview: Mary Elizabeth Williams Talks Cardiff, Singing, Peaky Blinders & Trump
An anonymous poster shared what it’s like to grow up with addiction all around.
Sara interviews Will Varley, with Jasper’s amazing photography:
Gabalfa again- they made some sick GIFs.
Jake headed to the Welsh Music Awards.
Dan interviewed Sarah McCreadie, Cardiff’s best known young poet, probably:
Sadia explains why environmentalism needs to be decolonised:
Throughout 2017 and 2018, plastic pollution has been on the agenda. We started talking about it in this article:
Also in July, we began our new weekly column of cheap Cardiff events. We’ve done it every week since, meaning there’s now 30 columns. Well done, Sprout team!
It’s been a crazy year in politics, and we tried to cover some of the big twists and turns:
It may surprise you that we actually interviewed Mark Drakeford AM back before he became First Minister of Wales. If that’s not an achievement, I don’t know what is. Media outlets from around the country will now be queuing up to talk to him- but little old Sprout got there first! Massive well done to Joe for this piece.
Next we took our plastic campaign to a new level. In collaboration with the National Museum, we used the bilingual pun #NoMorPlastic to launch a whole new drive. New contributor Declan even went a whole week using as little plastic as possible- sometimes going to extreme lengths. Tom and Liam also went to interview Sophie Rae, who has since launched her shop. Have you visited yet?
#NoMorPlastic: VIDEO- Setting Up Cardiff’s First Zero Waste Shop
http://thesprout.co.uk/blog/nomorplastic-my-week-without-waste/
Liam did an excellent job of photographing cycling hero Geraint Thomas’ return to Cardiff.
Tom interviewed poet and psychogeographer Peter Finch, who expects to see Cardiff expand to eat up Newport, and with a little geological disturbance, Caerphilly too.
Everyone has to agree that Sophie’s amazing music writing has been a highlight.
Review: Estrons – You Say I’m Too Much, I Say You’re Not Enough
An international student’s views on Brexit:
Creating international links: preparation for the post Brexit era
With writing from Tom B. and photos from @tudir, our review of the Green Man Festival has to be almost as good as actually being there.
Speaking of festivals, Carys’s story of sneaking booze inside a shampoo bottle had us in stitches. Do NOT try this at home- or at a festival!
Another new writer this year was Ed, who we met at Radio Platfform. Ed’s since done some great reviews for us, and has also been one of the key players in creating our new podcast with Radio Platfform. We’ll be revealing more about the podcast in the new year- including details on how you can get involved!
Top 7 Things To Do at the Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival 2018
Declan headed to the Ocean Film Festival. He’s almost become our environmental correspondent.
Carys gave some tips for surviving uni after all the fun of Freshers Week is long behind you.
We learned about maybe Cardiff’s craziest sport: unicycle hockey.
One Wheel, One Love: prepare for impact with Cardiff’s Unicycle Hockey club.
We learned much about comedy, stories, and even ourselves at Wales Arts Review’s Newport event.
Speaking of reviews, James continued reputation as an absolute theatre buff, devouring every show he can see and often tearing it to pieces! Here are two of his best reviews from this year:
Syd went along to the SWN fest, with the legendary Tudor as photographer again.
From festivals to the boring budget, it’s all here on The Sprout!
Our interview with staff and young people at Cardiff’s deaf youth club has been very popular, and rightly so. One of the best features.
Members of the Ministry of Life- including the Gabalfa club we mentioned earlier- descended upon Radio Platfform and then Sprout HQ for their awards ceremony. We premiered their music videos on The Sprout.
EXCLUSIVE! XO ATTRACTION present Terri-Mae and Abbie in: RUSSIAN ROULETTE and F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
At this time of year, it’s all about Christmas. It was great to publish Lily’s first article recently!
Moving away from a materialistic Christmas and making eco friendly choices
Oh, and don’t forget my groundbreaking cinema journalism.
I hope you all agree it’s been an amazing year. Let’s make 2019 even better! Do you know anyone who might be able to write, photograph, make video, audio or social content for The Sprout? Let’s make it happen!