Sharon Lougher

Sharon Lougher (born 22 April 1980) is a UK based journalist, editor and talking head. She works for various national news and comedy publications as well as being Head of Features for Metro (British Newspaper) from 2014 to 2023.
==Early life and education==
The second of three children, Lougher was born in Kingston, South London. She was educated at Esher Sixth Form College from 1997 to 1999 where she was the editor of The Big E, a short lived student magazine. Lougher read Geography at King's College London (1999–2002), where she also covered the Arts section of its student union tabloid Roar News’.
==Career==
Whilst still at KCL, Lougher joined a brand manager scheme run jointly by the Royal National Theatre and Time Out (magazine), which recruited students to do guerrilla marketing around unions in exchange for work experience. Lougher began working full time at Time Out in 2002 and was editor the Time Out student guide from 2003 to 2006. Lougher moved to Metro in 2006 and became Head of Features in 2014.
Lougher's articles have featured in many publications including The Daily Telegraph, Metro, The Evening Standard, Time Out, Daily Mail and Chortle. She continues to contribute to various BBC, ITV and radio programmes and has been a judge of the Dave (TV channel) Funniest joke of the fringe award since it's inauguration in 2010.
Starting in 2013, Lougher, alongside news reporter Joel Taylor, started interviewing all of the main UK political party leaders in the build up to the general election for a feature called Quickfire Corner. This included three, prime ministers and the first minister for Scotland. 
In 2016, Lougher interviewed footballer Wayne Rooney to launch the NSPCC 'Little Stars' campaign. The article won the Best Content Partnership award at the 2017 Planning Awards.
In 2018 Lougher interviewed Simpsons creator Matt Groening as part of a collaboration to promote his new show Disenchantment. Working with Metro Features, Groening and his team redesigned the metro masthead to reflect their signature style, of the experience Lougher said
In 2019 Lougher, along with Travel Editor Laura Millar, collected the Travel Media Award for National Tabloid Newspaper Section of the Year for its ‘Escape’ feature. When asked about the award, Lougher commented “Well, it looks like fourth time’s the charm! It's a great team effort from everyone at Metro newspaper and amazing to be recognised in a very competitive field.”
==Comedy==
Whilst at Time Out, Lougher was taken under the wing of respected comedy critic Malcolm Hay. She is now one of the most prolific comedy journalists in the UK having reviewed hundreds of live shows around country and interviewed many of the world's top comedians. 
Lougher is now an established judge for some of the most prominent awards in comedy including The Funny Women Awards, Sketchfest, Dave's Joke of the Fringe the NATYS: New Acts of the Year Show and the National Comedy Awards presented by Channel 4.
==Personal life==
Lougher is a 2nd Dan Black Belt in the Korean Martial Art of Hapkido. She has been a practicing student at Chang's Hapkido Academy since 2008. She is also a longtime supporter of the Women's Sports Trust, and has contributed to numerous articles and reports regarding their work. 
Category:1980 births
Category:People from Kingston
Category:British people
Category:British journalists
Category:Editors
Category:Talking Heads