Walton is now in the third year of his degree, part-way through completing an internship at Stuff, based in The Press newsroom in Christchurch. Right now, of course, he is working from home during the Covid19 lockdown.
"I'm loving every minute of my time with The Press," Walton said.
"I've learnt a lot from being in a newsroom of this calibre and I'm so pleased to see that many journalists I'm working alongside have also been nominated."
He felt fortunate to be recognised and said the nomination was "good news to wake up to".
NZBS head of school Tony Simons said he was proud of Walton's achievement.
"It is great to see Steven's very good work on METRONEWS rewarded in this way. He shows great promise as a journalist and in already proving himself working as an intern at The Press in Christchurch."
Walton entered the following three stories into the Voyagers:
This is the second year running a current NZBS student has been a finalist in the student. Last year, Aaron Dahmen was nominated while interning at TVNZ.
Also nominated in the student journalism category is recent NZBS graduate Charlotte Cook.
Cook, who is a reporter a RNZ, said it was "pretty bloody cool" to be a finalist.
Here's a throwback to when Cook, as a first-year journalism student, interviewed the then soon-to-be Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern:
