ITV Sport announces inaugural beneficiary of Roger Pearce traineeship

Lanna Cowles has been announced as the first ITV Sport Roger Pearce technical trainee assistant, following the launch of a new traineeship in memory of the late ITV Sport technical director.

Organised by ITV Academy and ITV Sport in partnership with Creative Access, Cowles will join ITV Sport’s multi-skilled technical team for 12 months, learning new skills with training from ITV Sport’s technical facilities providers.

Cowles is 23 years old and originally from Northampton. She recently graduated from the University of Birmingham with an MA in Film and TV Production and a BA in Drama and Theatre Studies. She is passionate about the world of sports broadcasting and live television production, previously working as a runner across unscripted shows including Britain’s Got Talent, The Gadget Show, Ambulance: Code Red and Deep Fake Neighbour Wars. In 2022, Lanna worked on the live production of the Commonwealth Games as an assistant floor manager.

She was selected following an open application process that began in November 2023.

ITV Academy provides development programmes for ITV production staff, as well as traineeships and entry-level pathways.

Since launching, it has created 72 new roles and opportunities through initiatives such as the ITV News and Continuing Drama traineeships, launched ITV’s first-ever Production Finance Traineeship and partnered with Stormzy’s MerkyFC and Adidas to offer roles to black talent in football production.

Sonny Hanley, ITV Academy director, said: “What a fantastic way to cement the ITV Academy’s inaugural year with these announcements. The Academy was created to open doors into the industry and support those already within it and these initiatives are part of a whole range of what we do and will continue to do, working with our partners.”

Roger Pearce worked at ITV for 43 years and as technical director was responsible for the technical planning and operational management of ITV Sport’s output including major events such as the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro Championships and the Rugby World Cup. He was also an important and influential member of the SVG Europe Advisory Board. He passed away in November 2022 during the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Read more: https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/roger-pearce-1957-2022/