A Bradford University lecturer has won national acclaim for her hard-hitting report describing the exploitation of young children working in Indian sweatshops.

Mandy Turner, of Shipley, has made the final 16 of more than 400 entries from across the country in a journalism competition to highlight global poverty.

Her report features accounts from abused Indian workers – one as young as seven – who fled the factories where they were forced to work to a refuge set up in Delhi to look after them.

It has won her a place in the final of the Guardian International Development competition and a trip to Africa to join a charity and report on its work in combating tropical illnesses.

Mandy, a lecturer in the university’s peace studies department, said: “I went to India a few years back and visited a non-governmental organisation (NGO) there. When the competition came up, I just thought I would write up what I had found and put it in.

“The competition is a great way to highlight the amazing work that NGOs do in the developing world. I am thrilled to be shortlisted for the first one.”

Organised by Marie Stopes International and supported by the Department for International Development (DFID), the competition was designed to motivate journalists to write about issues relating to global poverty and international development.

After making the shortlist, Mandy has now been chosen to travel to Tanzania and Zanzibar with the Malaria Consortium, a charity investigating the devastating effects of tropical illness.

She will spend ten days visiting projects set up to tackle the disfiguring tropical disease elephantiasis.

The final report will go before a judging panel to decide the winner.

Mandy, who was a freelance writer before becoming a conflict resolution lecturer at the university in October, said: “I have met a lot of my other colleagues who are finalists and they are all interesting people with interesting ideas.”

Government minister Douglas Alexander, the International Development Secretary, said: “Informed and balanced journalism is crucial to bringing international development to the public’s attention. This competition has motivated a new generation of journalists to write about issues relating to global poverty.”