Sally Palmer

Editor/Senior Editorial Manager at National Trust. Senior Leadership Apprentice (Arts and Culture) Level 7

United Kingdom

About

I’m Senior Editorial Manager at the National Trust and Editor of National Trust Magazine, which is sent to 2.7m member households three times a year as a core membership benefit.

Experience

  • National Trust (13 yrs 4 mos)
    • Magazine Editor
      Mar 2013 - Present · 13 yrs 4 mos

      Senior Editorial Manager for the National Trust (since 2025); Editor and strategic lead for the Trust’s member magazine. Presenter of our audio magazine, which we produce for our blind and partially sighted members. Four-time winner of the PPA Independent Publisher Membership Publication of the Year (2017, 2018, 2020 and 2025). Winner of the PPA Independent Publisher Cover of the Year in 2017, 2018 and 2020. and the Bronze Cover of the Year award at the main PPA Awards (2025). Alongside my role and with the support of the Trust, I’m studying towards a Senior Leadership Apprenticeship in Arts and Culture Level 7 at the University of Wolverhampton.

    • Editor - copy, web and magazine
      Nov 2020 - Jan 2023 · 2 yrs 3 mos

      I rebuilt the web team following the Covid reset and led it through the transition onto a new CMS.

  • Immediate Media Co (7 yrs 9 mos)
    • Editor, BBC Knowledge magazine
      2008 - Mar 2013 · 5 yrs 3 mos

      Editor of BBC Knowledge Magazine, an international digest of articles adapted from BBC Focus, BBC History, BBC Wildlife and BBC Music magazines, launched into the US with licensed editions in countries including Poland, Romania and India. I gained a deeper understanding of brand and brand values, digital asset management and international audiences.

    • Deputy Editor, BBC Focus magazine (now Science Focus)
      Jul 2005 - Jan 2008 · 2 yrs 7 mos

      Deputy Editor of the BBC’s popular science title (now Science Focus). Regular presenter on its podcast. I was part of the team that won the PPA Specialist Consumer Magazine of the Year award in 2006. In this role I began to get more of an understanding of leadership and management and to enjoy building teams and developing others.

  • On Leave at Origin Publishing
    Jan 2005 - Jun 2005 · 6 mos

    I started in Mexico and travelled through Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica by myself. Along the way I studied Spanish at Escuela Montana, a non-profit Gutatemalan school offering socially responsible language learning and specialising in social justice. It has branches in Xela (Quetzaltenango) and on a coffee finca in the western mountains near Colomba (I studied at both). The school operates on a colectivo basis, offering economic sustainability for local Mayan communities and an immersive experience for students. While away I spent time writing articles for BBC Focus on a freelance basis, including a piece on muon detectors inside a pyramid in Teotihuacan, Mexico. I also freelanced for a travel magazine.

  • Features Editor, BBC Focus Magazine at BBC Magazines Bristol
    Jun 2002 - Dec 2004 · 2 yrs 7 mos

    Features Editor, BBC Focus magazine. Wrote, commissioned, subbed, proofed, edited. Won a spot on the prestigious Woods Hole Science Journalism Fellowship in Massachusetts, USA. Had an amazing time travelling to write features in Mexico on mangrove conservation, Kenya on studies on maneless lions and South Africa’s Namib desert on meerkats social behaviour, among other stories. This role consolidated my love of the natural world and my passion to do what I can to help protect it.

  • Staff Writer at Origin Publishing
    Dec 2001 - Dec 2002 · 1 yr 1 mo

    Focus was bought by Origin Publishing and I was promoted to Staff Writer and moved to Bristol with it. I wrote a wide range of popular science features for Focus. Those about space science, human and animal evolution and animal behaviour interested me the most. I interviewed science celebrities including David Attenborough, Chris Stringer and Monica Grady. I completed a photography course at Filton College. I also freelanced for magazines including New Scientist.