Winners
Results 2024
Crime & Investigative Reporter of the Year
Charles Thomson
Newsquest
A decade after Jason Moore was convicted of murder, Charles Thomson’s ceaseless reinvestigation revealed potential police misconduct. Over two years, Thomson scoured paperwork and spoke to witnesses and experts, tracking down the only eyewitness to identify Moore as the killer – the witness admitted he had been drunk and wasn’t sure he...
Jonathan Humphries
Liverpool Echo
Like the cases of James Bulger and Rhys Jones, the murder of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel invited media coverage of extraordinary intensity. In March, 2023, the trial of her killer, Thomas Cashman, began - covered every day by the Liverpool ECHO's Crime Reporter Jonathan Humphries. The pressure on Jonathan to deliver answers, unpi...
Dan Taylor
The Mail, Barrow
The heinous crimes Eleanor Williams claimed she had been subjected to split Barrow after she took to Facebook at the height of the first lockdown. In a long and detailed Facebook post, she alleged she had been groomed for several years by a gang of Asian men operating in Barrow and around the country.After bitter division, an explosion...
John Scheerhout
Manchester Evening News
John Scheerhout shows in his reporting how crime reporting can speak for people on the edge - and for the public. Whether it's addressing the conditions faced by prisoners and the realities faced by people working in the penal system, or a family fighting for justice for the son they lost, John deploys his investigative nous, extensive...
Neil Mackay
The Herald
Neil Mackay is Writer at Large with the Herald and Herald on Sunday newspapers. He is a Bafta-nominated filmmaker, novelist and non-fiction author, and also the former editor of the Herald on Sunday. He lives and works in Scotland.
Phil Coleman
Newsquest Cumbria
The conduct of the UK’s front-line police officers – particularly when they use force - is always an issue of public interest. Amnesty UK has highlighted this, describing Tasers as “potentially lethal weapons,” on occasions implicated in the deaths of people in mental health crisis. Last year, through his work at Carlisle Crown Court, ...
Campaign of the Year
Awaab's Law, Manchester Evening News
The story of two-year-old Awaab Ishak’s death due to exposure to toxic black mould in social housing touched and horrified the country. It was brought to light thanks to the work of the Manchester Evening News in 2022, which exposed damp and mould right across the housing estate where Awaab lived and shamed the landlord into action. Bu...
Dual The A9, The Inverness Courier
In February the Scottish Government admitted that their pledge to dual the A9 by 2025 was unachievable. As the main route of travel connecting the Highlands to the rest of the UK, that has claimed the lives of too many people in our community, it was an announcement that universally angered the north of Scotland. We launched our Dual T...
Knife Crime, The Northern Echo
The Northern Echo’s campaign to tackle knife crime was launched in response to the murder of 18-year-old Jack Woodley from County Durham. He was brutally beaten up and fatally stabbed by a 15-year-old with a ‘Rambo-style’ survival knife. We argued funding is needed to address the root causes of knife crime, alongside the harsher pun...
Our Communities Together - a cost of living crisis appeal, South Wales Argus and other Newsquest Wales titles
The cost-of-living crisis has hit people hard and many of the communities we serve in Wales, especially so. The South Wales Argus serves the Gwent area in south-east Wales, which includes authorities such as Blaenau Gwent and Newport, which are among the most deprived in the UK. Research commissioned by the Bevan Foundation showed that...
.jpg?width=450&height=300&token=okJSh3hA2%2FFf5dUT%2BESawtvYwz%2FBUfrILMrT%2FdHs3Jk%3D)
Save Our Railway Ticket Offices, Western Morning News
Western Morning News – Save Our Railway Ticket Office. The threatened closure of railway station tickets offices across the country was an issue that provoked widespread opposition. However, few areas would have suffered more profoundly from the loss of face-to-face ticket sales than the Westcountry. The South West region served by t...
Stop Knives Taking Lives, ChronicleLive/The Chronicle
Stop Knives Taking Lives, ChronicleLive launched the Stop Knives Taking Lives campaign in February following a devastating spate of fatal stabbings in the North East which saw three teenagers lose their lives in just four months. The region mourned the loss of Tomasz Oleszak, 14, from Gateshead, Gordon Gault, 14, from Benwell in Newca...
Specialist Journalist of the Year
Conor Gogarty
WalesOnline
WalesOnline’s Conor Gogarty is a brilliant investigative reporter whose stories have a real-world impact. In his damning investigation into an exodus of vital part-time staff at the South Wales fire service, Gogarty covered a recent fire in Treharris during which the nearest seven on-call stations had no crews available, resulting in a...
Ciaran Barnes
Sunday Life
Ciaran revealed how a convicted wife killer was selected for a top post in the Orange Order - a Christian organisation with tens of thousands of members across Northern Ireland. Within three days of the expose Stephen Fulton was forced to resign. He detailed how MI5 agent Dennis McFadden infiltrated a justice campaign set up to quash t...
Kirsten Elder
Belfast Telegraph
Kirsten has been working as a journalist for ten years in Northern Ireland. She was one of the first journalists to report breaking news on a mobile phone here - this is how she made a name for herself as a freelance journalist. Kirsten joined the Belfast Telegraph in July 2022 as staff video journalist. She is part of a small team but...
Eddie Bisknell
Derbyshire Live/Derby Telegraph
Eddie is an excellent example of an LDRS reporter who goes above and beyond. He does not just sit in meetings but instead picks up on themes, investigates them outside of the council chamber and brings them to life. In the first story (“The plight of Derbyshire's forgotten children 'lost in the noise'”), Eddie spotted a spike in the nu...
Liam Thorp
Liverpool Echo
It was a scoop and a scandal that sent shockwaves around a city. After 16 months of tireless investigations Liverpool Echo Political Editor Liam Thorp was able to finally reveal that a number of Labour councillors in Liverpool had been involved in a back door scheme to have parking fines written off by senior council officers without g...
Martin Williams
The Herald and Herald on Sunday
I specialise in investigations focussing particularly on business and finance and including how financial decision-making affects people - namely taxpayers and bill-payers. The three front page investigations submitted are examples of exclusive front page agenda-setting stories in the public interest that hold power to account and were...
Neil Mackay
The Herald
Neil Mackay is Writer at Large with the Herald and Herald on Sunday newspapers. He is a Bafta-nominated filmmaker, novelist and non-fiction author, and also the former editor of the Herald on Sunday. He lives and works in Scotland.
Will Hayward
WalesOnline
My piece “Living and dying in pain” looked at the waiting lists in Wales. Through a series of FOIs I demonstrated that a huge contributor to the fall in Welsh waiting lists was people dying while waiting for treatment (no other journalist had made this link). My FOIs also demonstrated that the Welsh Government was hiding behind their “...
Supplement of the Year
BUSINESSiQ, The Northern Echo
The Northern Echo’s BUSINESSiQ published its 20th edition this year, and has become an essential voice for the region’s business landscape, across the north east and Yorkshire. With a sleek design and standout interviews, content is divided between in-depth interviews and case studies and commercial features, but the onus is on the per...
Amazing Welsh Homes, Western Mail
Western Mail / Media Wales
Amazing Welsh Homes is an exciting entirely new product. It is an 84-page glossy magazine, which was launched in spring 2023 - a compelling opportunity to expand our portfolio to meet our readers’ obvious interest in property and to gain important circulation and advertising revenue. The idea for Amazing Welsh Homes was inspired by t...
Journal 150th special edition, Newmarket Journal
The Newmarket Journal's special anniversary supplement was always intended as a celebration. A celebration of all those people, places and events, whose stories had been the newspaper's story for 150 years. The only way to find those stories was to comb the newspaper's archive, week by week, month by month, year by year. In total, t...
Reflections (finding hope after tragedy): Omagh Bomb 25 Years On, The Ulster Herald
This multimedia initiative involved making an extensive feature supplement in print and an accompanying video documentary to mark the 25th anniversary of the Omagh bombing. On August 15, 1998, the Real IRA detonated a car bomb in the centre of Omagh. 31 lives – including a woman pregnant with unborn twins - were lost and hundreds of pe...
Spirit of Northern Ireland Awards, Sunday Life
The Sunday Life Spirit of Northern Ireland Awards brings our brand to the heart of communities across NI. As this supplement demonstrates, it clearly shows how we champion people here. This year’s event was the biggest to date. As well as building a special relationship with our readers across print and digital, it provided excellent a...
The Northern Echo Weekend Memories, The Northern Echo
MEMORIES is an institution. For more than 650 weeks, it has appeared as a 12-page supplement in The Northern Echo on a best-selling Saturday. It is packed with old pictures and amazing stories which often arise from its phenomenal reader interaction. Its appeal is that its stories may come from down your very own road and yet they a...
Weekend magazine, Western Mail
Western Mail / Media Wales
The Western Mail’s Weekend magazine is a brilliant packed package delivered each Saturday featuring fantastic, insightful journalism about all aspects of Welsh life with complete attention to detail and excellent, visually impactful story-telling. Our reporters seek out their wide-ranging subjects and compelling features each and every...
Feature Writer of the Year
Sam McBride
Belfast Telegraph
From uncovering shocking pollution in the largest lake in the country to seminal interviews with political and public figures, Sam McBride is a compelling feature writer with “great breadth and depth of coverage” in his work, according to Regional Press Awards judges. McBride is a very accomplished interviewer who gets under the skin o...
Ffion lewis
WalesOnline
Ffion performed an investigation into domestic violence (DV) and abuse in Wales. An extensive amount of work went into this piece over an eight month period. I investigated this issue after witnessing the staggering number of DV cases appearing in court. To form the basis of this piece I initially spent a month in a dedicated DV court ...
Ruby Kitchen
The Yorkshire Post
An investigation with citizen science, laying bare the horrors of Britain's blue waters. Riding the buses, just because. And reflections on an ageing seaside resort, with attempts to gentrify. These aren't hard hitting, gasp-inducing reports. Rather it's slow journalism, often over several weeks. Thorough, and with incredible access, ...
Beth Abbit
Manchester Evening News
The structure of news features allow journalists to look in depth at a particular issue and discuss those that sometimes get lost in the news cycle. This is what Beth has done with the three features included here. When it was revealed by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation that Manchester has the second highest rate of destitution in the c...
Elliot Ryder
Liverpool Echo
Elliot Ryder’s feature writing has had a huge impact on Liverpool journalism in the last 12 months and consistently cast fresh and compelling light on the city’s most challenging stories. His detailed work has gone beyond Merseyside’s perceived sense of self to reveal a different picture - one more honest, puzzling and even harrowing a...
Neil Mackay
The Herald
Neil Mackay is Writer at Large with the Herald and Herald on Sunday newspapers. He is a Bafta-nominated filmmaker, novelist and non-fiction author, and also the former editor of the Herald on Sunday. He lives and works in Scotland.
Stephen Topping
Manchester Evening News
After breaking the story of Awaab Ishak, the two-year-old boy who died after breathing in mould in his family's social flat, and the shocking conditions other families were facing on the same estate, Stephen Topping has focused much of his work on the poor housing standards in Greater Manchester. He also led the Manchester Evening News...
News Website of the Year
Belfast Telegraph
The quality of the Belfast Telegraph’s journalistic output is not in any doubt – but translating that into a seamless online experience is a feat that has eluded many rivals. Regional Press Awards judges were hugely impressed by the way the title had taken strong and authoritative local journalism into a digital platform, and the range...
ChronicleLive
ChronicleLive prides itself on delivering responsible, trusted journalism and is the biggest regional news site in the North East. We aim to celebrate and champion the region. This year we launched several campaigns, including Stop Knives Taking Lives following the loss of three young lives in just four months. We also led calls to sav...
Iliffe Media Publishing / suffolknews.co.uk
Suffolk News is now the three-year-old infant of the Iliffe Media portfolio of websites - and the troublesome child is growing into a well-adjusted beast. The success of Kent Online - with 30m unique views a month - was the driving force behind Suffolk News initially at launch stage in August 2020. Creaky websites from established n...
KentOnline
KentOnline has punched above its weight in recent years to become one of the most successful regional news websites in the UK, with industry-leading dwell time. The ‘flagship’ of the KM Media Group’s expanding digital output, the title serves a growing number of readers in the county of Kent and beyond. It complements our new and emerg...
Southern Daily Echo
Readers have been turning to the Southern Daily Echo's website in large numbers throughout 2023 and showing they value our journalism in the most definitive way possible - by spending their hard-earned money with us. Building digital subscriptions has been a key strategy for the website and has seen huge success as they have more than ...
WalesOnline
WalesOnline publishes investigative and public interest journalism that makes a difference. In an investigation lasting months, we exposed the disgraceful inner workings of a direct sales firm in Cardiff whose workers went door to door trying to persuade people to give money to established UK charities. Working undercover and wearing a...
Opinion Writer of the Year
Sam McBride
Belfast Telegraph
Lord Alderdice, the former speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, described Sam McBride’s column on the accelerated decay of public services in the country as “exceptionally important” and said it “may well become a historically referenced piece in the future.” The column highlighted the alarming number of people whose deaths were ...
Catriona Stewart
Herald & Times
The inimitable Catriona Stewart turns an eye to the major topics of the day, highlighting hypocrisies and absurdities with a unique insight that sets her apart from her peers. One of the best read columnists on The Herald's website, Catriona sees readers eagerly returning to her twice-weekly opinion slots for her fresh takes on every...
CHRIS DONNELLY
The Irish News
I have been writing a regular column in the Irish News since January 2020. Many of my columns feature observations on the local political scene in the north of Ireland as well as at the national and international level. As a political commentator, the content of my articles can often generate broadcast media interest, leading to discus...
Neil Mackay
The Herald
Neil Mackay is Writer at Large with the Herald and Herald on Sunday newspapers. He is a Bafta-nominated filmmaker, novelist and non-fiction author, and also the former editor of the Herald on Sunday. He lives and works in Scotland.
Phil Wisdom
Cornwall and Devon Media
In a society which is, more than ever, slow to praise and swift to blame, and when the media - even weekly newspapers in deepest Cornwall - are widely regarded as the willing tools of a right-wing/left-wing (delete as appropriate) conspiracy to undermine freedom and civilisation it would be unfair to condemn Phil's work as without meri...
Sara Robinson
Western Mail, Media Wales
Sara Robinson contributes a monthly opinion column to the Western Mail - Wales' national newspaper. With a distinctive style that blends storytelling, expert analysis, and rich emotional texture, Sara’s columns are a refreshing and essential read for anyone looking to challenge their perceptions and broaden their understanding. They fe...
Will Hayward
WalesOnline
The riots in Ely were national news. Two teenagers were dead and people in this Cardiff suburb were scared to leave their homes. What they needed was someone to go out to bat for them. Luckily there was someone whose job was precisely that - Alun Michael the Police and Crime Commissioner. But when Mr Michael made a series of pretty ...
Young Journalist of the Year
Abi Whistance
Mill Media Co
A young journalist with real promise, Abi Whistance has delivered thought-provoking investigations covering Merseyside for regional start-up Mill Media. In a two-month-long project, she revealed a food delivery app had received £700,000 of public money despite concerns about its business model, and asked why hard-pressed local authorit...
Lucy John
WalesOnline
Lucy wrote about three childhood sex abuse survivors who were failed by two police forces. It follows a story Lucy wrote in October 2022, when one of the survivors, Michaela Allen, opened up about her ordeal - describing how her alleged abuser was never charged despite CPS advice to do so in the 1990s. She was told that her case would ...
Ethan Davies
Manchester Evening News
I’ve been a journalist for three years. My career has taken me from council meetings in Cheshire to (very) minor internet fame thanks to Jackie Weaver and Handforth Parish Council — and then on to stand-offs in Bolton, murders in Manchester, and political exclusives from Liverpool. Throughout that period, I’ve immersed myself in newsro...
Hannah Richardson
LeicestershireLive
Sharon reached out in February 2022 after Ian’s death, claiming his care home had been stealing from him for almost two decades. Hannah spent a year compiling evidence – including receipts for items unsuitable for Ian and a bank book that should have been closed in 2017 but showed transactions afterwards – and corroborating Sharon's cl...
Lily Shanagher
Henley Standard
Lily has used her work to expose incompetence in organisations and businesses and help vulnerable people have a voice. Her piece covers a family whose son had been tormented by a group of teenagers for more than a year. The threats and violence spread to the whole family. Charges were dropped after police failed to act in time and the ...
Phoebe Abruzzese
The Northern Echo
Making grieving and struggling families comfortable to tell their stories, relentless in pursuit of the truth and comfortable in digging into complex situations is why Phoebe has established herself already as a fantastic young journalist with enormous potential. This has been highlighted most with her work on the crisis at an under fi...
Tom Bedworth
Warrington Guardian
Tom is a community reporter at the Warrington Guardian. His entries include investigative work highlighting mistreatment of vulnerable people by a housing trust, as well as holding the police to account regarding abysmal conviction rates for sexual assault. The investigation regarding the housing company saw Tom spend weeks talking to ...
Tom Burgess
The Northern Echo
Trainee reporter Tom Burgess has made a remarkable impact in the few months he's been at The Northern Echo. Since joining in July, he has displayed tenacity, commitment, knowledge, and a desire which should be applauded and would be a credit to any newsroom. Tom's work spans a spectrum of stories, from hard-hitting special reports an...
News Brand of the Year (Large)
Belfast Telegraph
The Belfast Telegraph is a “big brand, doing what it should be doing – and doing it brilliantly with impressive audience growth figures”, according to the judges. In 2023, that meant it threw its weight behind the biggest political stories, with the absence of a Stormont Executive providing a dramatic backdrop to events. The brand’s in...
WalesOnline
WalesOnline publishes investigative and public interest journalism that makes a difference. In an investigation lasting months, we exposed the disgraceful inner workings of a direct sales firm in Cardiff whose workers went door to door trying to persuade people to give money to established UK charities. Working undercover and wearing a...
Yorkshire Evening Post
The Yorkshire Evening Post has been the number one news brand in Leeds for more than 150 years. And in 2023 it was the first National World city daily print title to undergo a complete relaunch. But this was not just a repackaging of the content in new clothes, it was a 're-imagining' of what a daily newspaper means to the reader, a ro...
.png?width=450&height=300&token=okJSh3hA2%2FFf5dUT%2BESawtvYwz%2FBUfrILMrT%2FdHs3Jk%3D)
KentOnline
KentOnline has punched above its weight in recent years to become one of the most successful regional news websites in the UK, with industry-leading dwell time. The ‘flagship’ of the KM Media Group’s expanding digital output, the title serves a growing number of readers in the county of Kent and beyond. It complements our new and eme...
Sunday Life
Sunday Life champions the rights of others, holds power to account and makes a real difference to our audience and the community across Northern Ireland. The power of our journalism was most evident by how we forced a killer to resign from his senior role in the Orange Order. The loyal order, which has 30,000 members in NI and beyon...
The Irish News
In 2023, for the first time in our history, The Irish News reached the number one position in the UK regional newspaper industry for combined print and digital sales. Audit Bureau of Circulations data (January to June) confirmed that our average daily figure was 25,010. This would be a notable achievement for a family-owned title in an...
The Northern Echo
The Northern Echo has more than 150 years of tradition in holding those in power to account, giving a voice to those without one, fight for what is right, shining a light on the issues that matter to its readers, campaigning for changing and championing the communities we serve. And in the last 12 months, we have continued to delive...
News Brand of the Year (Small)
Cambridge Independent
The Cambridge Independent does what all great local papers do – understanding and serving its community with detailed coverage and a willingness to give underheard voices a platform. What’s most impressive, however, is that it is doing so while growing its audience at an astonishing rate.Over the last year, the paper has reported the d...
Cambrian News
The Cambrian News is the Best Weekly Newspaper in Wales in 2023. We believe it's also the best in the UK. A newspaper with a weekly circulation of 8,200 and with an online weekly audience that includes more than 120,000 viewers, it hits far above its weight. And it does so through its fearless approach to local news and reporting. ...
Camden New Journal
THE independent Camden New Journal is fiercely resisting the idea that local newspapers are on the way out by doubling down on our campaigning, investigative journalism. We remain committed to the idea that if costs must be cut, this must not mean the loss of reporters and we retain a thriving newsroom in the heart of our community. We...
South Wales Echo
The South Wales Echo has informed, served and entertained the population of Cardiff and South Wales since 1884. For our loyal readership we remain the first port of call for breaking news, political developments, key issues, entertainment, features, and local and national sports coverage. The Echo’s standing in the community and the qu...
The Detail
Established in 2011, The Detail’s award-winning, not-for-profit platform delivers high quality journalism and produces articles which lead to demonstrable change. The Detail is unique in Northern Ireland in offering impartial investigative journalism which speaks to all communities. We are dedicated to fair, accurate reporting which pr...
The Oxford Times
Celebrating the title’s 160th year in circulation, The Oxford Times had a brilliant 12 months cementing its position as one of the UK’s strongest weekly titles. A quality product which leads the agenda locally – and often nationally – it’s been at the centre of some of Oxford’s biggest talking points in 2023, with the politics and opin...
TyroneHerald
For more than 120 years, the UlsterHerald has been at the heart of the community in Tyrone. Along with its sister title, the TyroneHerald, we have been keeping readers across the county informed with the latest local news and sport for generations. With the dynamic nature of news consumption changing amid advances in digital technology...
Reporter of the Year (Daily)
Sam McBride
Belfast Telegraph
Exceptional investigative skills are the hallmark of Sam McBride’s reporting, which culminated in breaking the news of perhaps the worst data breach in UK history, the astonishing moment that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) mistakenly published online the names and details of every employee – more than 10,000 people in al...
Lucy John
WalesOnline
Lucy’s writes about three childhood sex abuse survivors who were failed by two police forces. It follows a story Lucy wrote in October 2022, when one of the survivors, Michaela Allen, opened up about her ordeal - describing how her alleged abuser was never charged despite CPS advice to do so in the 1990s. She was told that her case wou...
Phil Coleman
Newsquest Cumbria
Over the last year, Newsquest Cumbria Chief Reporter Phil Coleman has seen two long-running investigations come to fruition. The first was the final legal chapter in Coleman's expose of fake consultant psychiatrist Zholia Alemi, who worked in the NHS for 22 years, despite never having qualified as a doctor. Coleman's initial investigat...
Conor Gogarty
WalesOnline
The first spark for investigations editor Conor Gogarty going undercover as a door-to-door sales rep came when he was browsing social media, where people had posted about bad experiences working for a sales company in Cardiff. After arranging interviews with those people, Conor wrote a story that uncovered gruelling work conditions. Bu...
Hannah Richardson
LeicestershireLive
Hannah has covered attempts to topple a mayor, coronavirus, our Queen’s death, the cost-of-living crisis, a local election which bucked the national trend and the defections and deselection of longstanding councillors betrayed by their own party. But the stories that have stayed with her most are those of local people. Sharon reached ...
Liam Thorp
Liverpool Echo
It was a scoop and a scandal that sent shockwaves around a city. After 16 months of tireless investigations Liverpool Echo Political Editor Liam Thorp was able to finally reveal that a number of Labour councillors in Liverpool had been involved in a back door scheme to have parking fines written off by senior council officers without g...
Martin Williams
The Herald and Herald on Sunday
I specialise in investigations including how financial decision-making affects people - namely taxpayers and bill-payers. The three front page storires are examples of exclusive front page agenda-setting stories in the public interest that hold power to account and were widely followed up by other publications. One of the exclusives ...
Sophie Doughty
Newcastle Chronicle
Sophie Doughty is the crime reporter for the Chronicle, Journal and Sunday Sun, covering Newcastle and the North East. In a year in which the region was hit by a series of tragic knife killings, Sophie was determined to tell the real heart-breaking human stories behind these incidents. When 14-year-old Gordon Gault died in hospital six...
Reporter of the Year (Weekly)
Charles Thomson
Newsquest
The impact of Charles Thomson’s dogged reporting can be seen in a variety of different, and equally dramatic, ways. In the case of Jason Moore’s murder conviction – where, as the reporter put it, “even his alleged victim’s family believe he is innocent”, Thomson presented evidence that is being used to challenge the outcome of the case...
Ellis Whitehouse
Essex Live
Ellis Whitehouse is Chief Reporter at EssexLive and the Essex Chronicle and Brentwood Gazette where he covers a diverse range of topics and has made a name for himself with his court coverage. Since his reporting career began Ellis has always strived to be at the heart of Essex news, talking to as many people as he can, properly gettin...
Ciaran O’Neill
Sunday World
Ciaran O’Neill is a journalist with the Belfast-based Sunday World. Last summer, it emerged that a deadly batch of drugs had killed a number of young people in Derry. O’Neill first revealed details about the police investigation and the search for the killer drugs, before securing an exclusive interview with the mother of one of the yo...
Gemma Gardner
Cambridge Independent
I worked on an exclusive article that broke the news that new homes at a Cambridge development would have to be demolished after problems with their foundations were discovered. The story came about after I was tipped off by a contact, who I had built a trusted relationship with over a period of time, who felt the issues needed to be i...
Gill sutherland
Stratford Herald
Content editor Gill has scored an incredible number of exclusives over the year and is always hungry to get the story first. That nose for a story and excitement for a scoop still drives her forward. Gill’s enthusiasm for news inspires others. Having started at Time Out magazine 35 years ago, Gill brings vast experience and also tirele...
Paul Derrick
Bury Free Press/Suffolk News
I am Head of Multi Media News at the weekly newspaper The Bury Free Press and the county-wide website SuffolkNews. My first submission is an interview I secured with Suffolk's highest ranking gay police officer. I had seen a tweet from Suffolk Constabulary about a recruitment webinar aimed at the LGBTQ+ community. I asked if I could in...
Sharon O'Neill
Sunday Life
With pieces of work focusing on policing and justice. With wrongdoing of police across the UK in the dock, Northern Ireland saw its own fair share of scandals including one which resulted in a top cop losing her job. Sunday Life was ahead of the game on this, with the video of the disgraced officer drunk on the day she twice crashed he...
Reporting Communities Award
Greater Govanhill
Govanhill, in south east Glasgow, is one of the most culturally diverse neighbourhoods in Scotland but has long suffered from negative perceptions, often fuelled by external media coverage which fails to properly engage local residents. The Greater Govanhill magazine and news website was launched in 2020 as a community interest company...
Ipswich Star
For a number of generations, Ipswich has welcomed an array of different cultures and communities from around the world. This was never more controversial, however, than in late 2022, when a town centre hotel became home to dozens of asylum seekers. The decision to use the hotel exclusively to house asylum seekers was met with oppositio...
LeicestershireLive/Leicester Mercury
LeicestershireLive is absolutely aware of the importance of ensuring our many communities are well represented in our coverage. This is woven into the fabric of everything we do, our approach every day and our newsroom overall. We are lucky to have a team that is culturally and religiously diverse. We therefore have a chorus of knowl...
The Herald
As the only dispersal city in Scotland, Glasgow has the country's largest refugee and asylum seeker population - communities of people whose stories can be overlooked or easily misrepresented. Catriona Stewart has been writing closely about asylum issues for several years now, taking a particularly close view of the political issues...
The Inverness Courier
At The Inverness Courier, we take immense pride in our commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive newsroom. We firmly believe that a vibrant news organisation should reflect its community. The Inverness Courier's parent company, Highland News & Media, has a female-heavy leadership team, and we employ journalists from aged 17 to 72...
Sports Journalist of the Year
Steven Beacom
Belfast Telegraph
When Michael O'Neill - the man with the Midas touch who inspired the nation to the Euro 2016 finals - agreed a new deal to return in charge of Northern Ireland’s national football team, it was Steven Beacom who delivered the world exclusive, days before it was officially announced. The article was just one of Beacom’s numerous football...
Joe Thomas
Liverpool Echo
Since taking on the role of Everton FC correspondent, Joe has tried his best to ensure that the Liverpool ECHO offers a platform for the views of the people most important to any football club - the supporters. While he will openly admit he has not got everything right, he has sought to both challenge and support one of the country's m...
Ciaran Kelly
ChronicleLive/The Journal
I performed an exclusive interview with Jonjo Shelvey. As Shelvey said himself: "I don't tend to talk to the media or anything like that as you probably well know. I have never been one to do interviews." That is what made this piece for me as Shelvey spoke in depth about his Newcastle United exit and his time at the club for the first...
Jon Colman
Newsquest Cumbria
I work reporting on Carlisle United and sport in the wider region, and is a combination of story-getting and exclusive feature-writing. My first piece of work is front page story I broke in August about new takeover interest in Carlisle United. I revealed that an American family, the Piataks, had attended Carlisle games in the recent p...
Luke Jarmyn
Freelance
Luke Jarmyn is a freelance sports journalist specialising in rugby union, motorsport and water sports coverage, while also regularly covering football, cricket and several other sports. Luke’s entered the Sports Journalist category with articles published in the Jersey Evening Post – a daily local newspaper on the Channel Islands – ...
Neil Allen
Portsmouth News
With modern sports journalism and its accompanying pressures, creativity can be stifled, originality discouraged, individuality crushed - and the tried and trusted championed. Yet it’s imperative our profession continues to push reporting boundaries and demonstrate bravery in subject matter, even if it breaks convention. She wrote abou...
Stuart Watson
East Anglian Daily Times/Ipswich Star
Stuart Watson has been covering ITFC for as long as anyone can remember. He is so respected by our fans that his name is even sung on the terraces of ITFC - as his editor, and a lifelong ITFC fan, I have never known that to happen with any other sports journalist. Stuart has had a fantastic year. With the launch of our digital subscrip...
Photographer of the Year
Simon Hulme
The Yorkshire Post
Underwater or in the air, The Yorkshire Post’s Simon Hulme exemplifies how going the extra mile, or using an inventive approach, can pay dividends, as judges praised an excellent set of pictures that demonstrated a huge variety of different skills. The photographer was particularly inventive when capturing a Spitfire flying over York M...
James Hardisty
The Yorkshire Post
My three images I have entered show my high level of technical skill, creativeness, and ability to react quickly under pressure which was certainly needed for each of these assignments. My first image was taken at The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway - Steam Gala 2023 in March, this event takes place over four days. On this particular d...
Kevin Scott
Belfast Telegraph
Throughout 2023 I have strived to visually document the essence of Northern Ireland's complex and ever-changing landscape, fearlessly delving into the darkest and most perilous corners of Northern Ireland to shed light on its complex and often volatile realities. I have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to documenting the region's ...
Mark Williamson
Stratford Herald
Mark Williamson is a news photographer working for the Stratford Herald, primarily in south Warwickshire and the Cotswolds. His portfolio of three photographs features the millionaire MP for Stratford-on-Avon Nadhim Zahawi being interviewed in front of students in the fiction section of a school library, the image illustrating an artic...
Rob Browne
WalesOnline
Rob has been working as press photographer since 1999 and started at the Western Mail/WalesOnline in 2007. He is a senior member of the WalesOnline editorial team and provides a variety of images and videos, which are used online and in print. The entries he has submitted represent a small sample of his work and the stories he covered...
Tony Johnson
The Yorkshire Post
Tony Johnson has been a professional photographer for 30 years, 23 of those years at Yorkshire Newspapers. He is passionate about photography and has the best job in the world.
Designer of the Year
Raymond Esteban
Belfast Telegraph
A great cover is a major contributing factor in engaging with readers – and Raymond Esteban’s memorable pages illustrate how creative design can transcend the confines of templates. Esteban’s skill is in producing an eye-catching visual that draws attention to important causes. His “Sign of the Times” cover for Belfast Telegraph Weeken...
Dawn Egan
The Irish News
Dawn Egan is one of the unsung heroes of The Irish News. A formidable production journalist, over four decades she was instrumental in shaping the identity of the paper, chiefly through her responsibility for crafting the features pages. Dawn fell ill at the end of September 2023 and, tragically, died just three weeks later. Her cancer...
Duncan Jackson
National World
Duncan's brief was to reimagine NationalWorld's stable of city daily newspapers by presenting news in an innovative and modern way, allowing for minimal manual design work in a mainly templated production process. While all the titles use the same suite of templates, there is individuality for each newspaper, through the use of icons a...
Michael McKenzie
The Herald
The daily challenge for Mike is to problem solve the broadsheet layout conundrum: we have an unrivalled canvas to display images but only half of P1 displays on the vast majority of news stands so making the best use of that top-half for words and pictures is key to impactful design. A folded front – and large area at that – to fill me...
Michelle Lockwood
National World
Michelle Lockwood is a superb page designer who works for National World's Group Design Hub. She works across our entire portfolio and specialises in page designs for the city daily titles. Her standout work is in the area of sports data visualisation. Earlier this year we began a relaunch programme for our eight city daily titles and ...
Nancy Fallows
Newsquest
Nancy Fallows, a dedicated and accomplished front-page designer, has consistently demonstrated her unwavering commitment to excellence in journalism for the past seven years. Her creative talents and innovative approach to front-page design have not only earned her recognition within her own organization but have also expanded her reac...
Front Page of the Year
Sunday World
Sunday World’s “Blind Courage” front page is a remarkably impactful way of telling a shocking and important story – the extraordinary courage of Olivia Creaney, a Craigavon mum of two who stood up to a gangland boss after he blinded her in a brutal attack. The paper’s main image was a photograph of Olivia shortly after she was attacked...
South Wales Echo
Two young lives lost, question marks over the police’s role in the tragedy and the worst rioting to hit the Welsh capital in more than 30 years. The events that shook Cardiff on the evening of May 22, 2023, and into the early hours of the next day, began with the deaths of two teenagers - Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and Harvey Evans, 15. ...
Wiltshire Times
Newsquest
This front page continues to bring a smile to the face of our news team months on. This story of a builder in the middle of an extension planning application row with the council suddenly became a national story, receiving widespread attention due to the disgruntled builder deciding to make an amusing addition at the construction sit...
Belfast Telegraph
This is a simple but powerful front page where the shocking picture tells the story. UVF killer Gary Haggarty has been in witness protection since 2009 when he turned supergrass (informer). He was flown back to Belfast to give evidence in the trial of Belfast man James Smyth (57), who is accused of killing Eamon Fox, a father-of-six, a...
Nottingham Post
June 13 2023 was one of the darkest days in the history of Nottingham. Three innocent people - Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley Kumar and Ian Coates - were stabbed to death in various locations around the city centre and a group of pedestrians were hit by a car outside our main shopping centre. It’s the sort of news event that as a tea...
The Herald
It is not every day that you are asked to keep a secret – we are more used to revealing them. And as a newspaper designer, creating a front page daily is something we bring together as a team, widely talked about, discussions on image choice and shape. However, there are occasions when the mission becomes top secret and on a need to kn...
Western Mail
WESTERN MAIL: LYON-HEARTS! (September 25, 2023) This front page is the impactful result of Wales victory against Australia in the pool stages of the 2023 Rugby World Cup which secured Wales’ progress to the last 16 in the quarter-finals. The key match kicked off at the OL Stadium in Lyon at 20:00 GMT on Sunday, September 24, 2023,...
Best Live Coverage
Belfast Telegraph
In a competitive field covering a wide range of different approaches to live news coverage, the Belfast Telegraph stood out as a “masterclass in multi-platform reporting” for its ability to quickly and accurately break and contextualise complex and important stories, utilising multimedia and excellent journalistic skills to spectacular...
EssexLive
In December 2022 a trial began that was unlike no other trial before it. Stephen Bear was a reality TV star known for his outrageousness but no one could have expected how that would translate to his behaviour in a real court room. The labourer turned Celebrity Big Brother winner from Essex faced charges over uploading a video of hims...
Belfast Telegraph - Visuals Team
Throughout the year, the Belfast Telegraph visuals team has adeptly maneuvered through the intricate landscape of Northern Ireland's breaking news and political sphere. We have fearlessly addressed stories entwined with paramilitaries, venturing into realms that others hesitate to explore. As the primary team willing to shine a light i...
Birmingham Mail/ Birmingham Live
Birmingham Live reporters are often at the heart of major news stories breaking across our patch. But was the death of four boys in a frozen lake at Babbs Mill, Solihull, in 2022 which is perhaps the most significant in recent times. With any major live news story there are key decisions every editor must take before publication and th...
Chester Standard
In-depth live coverage of the Lucy Letby trial, the neonatal nurse ultimately convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six more, was relayed from the courtroom to readers throughout the 10 months via the Chester Standard. In total, more than 70 live blogs were produced throughout the trial, with each day the chief ...
LeicestershireLive
The double murder trial of social media 'influencer' Mahek Bukhari and others was of huge national, and international, interest. LeicestershireLive was the only news organisation to live blog every day of the trials - the first was abandoned during closing speeches - resulting in 100+ days of exclusive, in-depth, as-it-happened coverag...
Manchester Evening News
Breaking and live news is at the heart of what the Manchester Evening News does. We pride ourselves on our comprehensive coverage of court cases and breaking incidents. We deliver fast and accurate information in an innovative way and are the first with exclusive lines and updates. The three examples provided here are just some of the ...
WalesOnline
People in Wales rely on WalesOnline's live reporting. We were the first, and for several hours only, journalists on the scene in Ely, Cardiff, when the deaths of two boys in an e-bike accident sparked a riot on the streets, providing accurate coverage in difficult and volatile circumstances as rumours swirled about the circumstances...
Digital Initiative of the Year
Public Notice Portal (PNP)
Public notices, a traditional bedrock of local newspapers, had been notoriously slow to embrace the digital age. But the Public Notice Portal (PNP) is changing that fast. Backed by regional publishers and the News Media Association, the portal is designed to enhance local papers’ coverage of public notices in print by also making them ...
The Northern Agenda
With a General Election now months away it’s more important than ever to shine a light on big political issues affecting the regions where voters will surely hold the key to Number 10. In the past year The Northern Agenda - a brand bringing together politics coverage from Reach’s titles in the North of England - has been bringing sto...
Curiously - Manchester Evening News
The Manchester Evening News' Curiously team is the latest addition to the newsroom and is tasked with creating new and repackaging existing content for under 35s. This is our fastest growing audience, with a large proportion of our target market now consuming content via shortform videos. Over the last 12 months since the introduction...
Newsquest
In a year that has been pivotal for artificial intelligence, with both its potential and its risks, our news organisation has embarked on a journey to incorporate it safely into our newsrooms while reaping the benefits of the technology to better serve our audience. Recognising that time is one of the journalist's most valuable resourc...
Surrey Live - Bake On Bake Off
Bake On Bake Off is one of Reach’s Obsession newsletters which brings people with similar interests together and creates communities around them through newsletters. The newsletter is written by journalist Laura Nightingale whose love for baking and The Great British Bake Off shines through as she includes baking tips, news about the s...
WalesOnline
WalesOnline understands that journalism cannot be measured in page views alone and must exist beyond a website.That is why you will find our work published across multiple platforms, wherever we think our audience is most likely to find and appreciate it. After an undercover investigation lasting months, we produced an 18-minute vid...
WhatsApp Communities
What does Elon Musk’s Twitter, Facebook’s latest pivot and TikTok’s huge growth have in common? All have been difficult for publishers wanting to monetise content, drive website referrals or grow brand loyalty. All are algorithm based and newsrooms have no say in which content gains exposure. The solution? Direct messaging. ...
Scoop of the Year
Exposed: Our hidden camera uncovers exploitation and pressure-selling at direct sales firm, WalesOnline, reporter Conor Gogarty
WalesOnline’s investigation into exploitation and pressure-selling at a “cult-like” sales office was a standout winner for the judges in a highly competitive field. It exemplified committed and dogged journalism by sticking with a story and utilising multiple resources and storytelling techniques – and it delivered clear results. Inves...
'I was drunk', confesses witness in murder case
Newsquest Investigations
Three days after I published this story, protestors gathered outside the Royal Courts of Justice, demanding Jason Moore’s murder sentence be quashed in light of the new evidence I had uncovered. The story was picked up by national titles like the Mirror, the Daily Mail, the Guardian and Private Eye. MPs and celebrities backed the Free ...
BACK FROM THE DEAD, The Northern Echo
This is an example of regional newspapers at their best. Uncovering an issue affecting one reader which then subsequently becomes national and international news which would never have come to the forefront without a regional newspaper shining a light - that paper being The Northern Echo. It began with a piece of old-fashioned journa...
Councillors used 'back door' to beat parking fines, Liverpool Echo
It was the scoop and the scandal that sent shockwaves through a city and beyond. In February 2023 the Liverpool Echo published a 16-month investigation by Political Editor Liam Thorp into a back door parking fines scheme at Liverpool City Council and named 14 current and former elected councillors as having been involved. Liam had...
Inside story of murder bid on top cop, Sunday Life
The most high-profile terrorist attack in the UK in 2023 was the attempted murder of Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell in Omagh, Co Tyrone. Despite being shot multiple times by two gunmen at a sports centre where he was coaching children, he survived. The attack was claimed by the dissident republican New IRA group which is oppos...
Michael O'Brien: 'I killed him', Rebecca Sherdley - Nottinghamshire Live / the Nottingham Post
I was the Legal Affairs Correspondent for the Nottingham Post/Nottinghamshire Live for 22 years. When I arrived in the city, gun crime levels reached alarming proportions among the criminal fraternity. Whilst some of these shootings were isolated, others were intrinsically linked to the death of innocent shopfitter Marvyn Bradshaw in...
Mutiny at Sea, The Herald / Herald on Sunday
The author Martin Williams specialises in investigations particularly involving finance and business. The submission relates to an exclusive investigation into how British workers were being replaced by cheap foreign labour to serve Scotland's green revolution after the Home Office agreed to extend a migrant worker extension and it has...
Cathryn Nicholl Award
Bridget Dempsey
Newsquest
Sellafield is not just the largest nuclear site in Europe, it is a vital contributor to the Cumbrian economy even while it is in the process of being decommissioned, with tens of thousands of people employed either directly by the plant or the associated supply chain. That makes it one of the most important drivers of local news, and a...