Ben Roberts-Haslam

Liverpool Echo reporter Ben Roberts-Haslam has had an impactful year covering significant national stories and breaking major exclusives. His work has seen him named on the 2025 Press 30 Under 30 List, and invited onto national television as a commentator in recognition of his coverage of the Southport attack. 

His tenacious yet respectful coverage of the attack, in which three young girls were killed at a dance class, included breaking the news that Axel Rudakubana had been referred to the government’s counter-terrorism programme Prevent. He contributed heavily to the Echo’s reporting of Rudakubana’s sentencing and secured an exclusive front-page interview with Alex Aguiar, the mother of Alice da Silva Aguiar, one of Rudakubana’s victims. Securing the interview is testament to Ben’s sensitive reporting of the tragedy in his hometown and the trust he has built with those involved. 

Other stories include his interview with a survivor of the 2004 Thailand tsunami, which led the newspaper and the website on the 20th anniversary of the disaster. And Ben exclusively broke the news of the death of local notorious criminal Akinwale Arobieke. He ensured the victims’ stories were also heard, through powerful interviews, read more than 300,00 times and picked up by other outlets.

Judges’ comments: “Ben has a real talent for tracking down stories… His powerful storytelling is a true talent as well as his ability to capture the emotion of what must have been harrowing scenes in his hometown.”