The Regional Press Awards
Young journalist of the year
Ffion Lewis
Media Wales
My first entry details how an incredible small-knit community rallied around a family after their house crumbled around them in a freak explosion with a mother and two young children trapped inside. I reported live from the scene and followed it through to multiple other pieces - including the first interview with mum Jessica. This ent...
Jasmine Norden
Yorkshire Live
My first entry looks at the state of knife crime in Huddersfield and what’s being done by those in power to fix it, after the tragic death of 15-year-old Khayri Mclean. I ran the liveblog all day for our coverage the day of Khayri’s death, contacting police, speaking to parents online and publishing what we received from our reporters ...
Annie Owen
North Wales Live and the Daily Post
In the 18 months since launching my journalistic career, I have established myself as a well-rounded senior reporter, trusted with covering all types of stories. From breaking news to human interest features, this sample gives a glimpse into the quality and breadth of my work which aims to champion underserved voices, hold those in pow...
Daniel Hordon
The Northern Echo
This is a young journalist who has made an instant impact in just a few short months in the role. Daniel Hordon joined The Northern Echo in June after graduating from Sunderland University with Honours in journalism – and a string of awards during his time there.Quickly showing promise, he landed the splash in his first week in the rol...
Shortlist: Danny Rigg
Liverpool Echo
As Weekend Reporter at the Liverpool Echo, my first permanent position as a journalist, I’ve been able to spend time building relationships with underrepresented communities, tell the stories of people fighting for change, and dig deep to help readers understand the news. I’ve led the agenda by publishing series on issues like rape c...
Helena Vesty
Manchester Evening New
In my four years as a journalist I have immersed myself in my newsroom, tackling every field from breaking news live from scenes, legally complex court reports, long-form features, to my work now as a specialist in health. I have made it my mission to show the humanity of each story I cover, showing real people at the centre of social ...
Josh Sandiford
Birmingham Mail and Birmingham Live
Four years ago, I had never met another journalist. I was the first in my family to attend university and soon developed a fascination for news. After guessing editors' emails, I completed work experience placements in London, Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham before freelancing for The Guardian, Observer and The Big Issue. I b...
Lucy John
WalesOnline
I am a senior reporter at WalesOnline. I started in 2019 after graduating from MA News Journalism at Cardiff University. My favourite stories to write are long-read features which either hold authority to account or trigger an emotional response from readers. I have selected the following entries because they do just that. My first ...
Reporter of the year (daily)
Will Hayward
WalesOnline
I don’t believe you can properly write about a place unless you really understand it. Unless you truly immerse yourself in something, how can you possibly reflect its realities to your readers? That is why when I saw that the Riverside area of Cardiff was found to have the highest levels of child poverty I spent six weeks in that co...
Dale Haslam
DC Thomson
Dale Haslam is a reporter with DC Thomson's Impact investigation team that provides content for both The Press and Journal and The Courier websites. The first entry is for a piece called Gangster Granny which was a deep dive multi-media investigation into a grandmother who was a top drug dealer in Dundee. The investigation took severa...
Shortlist: Allison Morris
Belfast Telegraph
I have been a front-line reporter for over 20 years, working almost exclusively in print and have worked for the Belfast Telegraph since March 2021 as the paper's Crime Correspondent. As the world was plunged into crisis over the pandemic domestic abuse organisations warned of the danger lockdown posed to those in violent relationships...
John Toner
Mediahuis
My entries represent a broad range of exclusive work which demonstrates a wide spectrum of skill, dedication and professionalism. My coverage of the Ken Flanagan double murder-suicide was detailed, comprehensive, dramatic and turned around at speed. The killings took place on a Friday evening and I was at both scenes the following da...
Martin Williams
The Herald / Herald on Sunday
I specialise in investigations focussing particularly on 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. The ScottishPower story revealed for the ...
Martyn McLaughlin
Scotland on Sunday
Throughout the past 18 months, Martyn McLaughlin has combined forensic investigative skills with impactful and sensitive reporting to produce a series of agenda-setting exclusives. An outstanding example of his ability to break globally significant stories came after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. Thanks to years spent wri...
Sam McBride
Belfast Telegraph
As the Northern Ireland Editor of the Belfast, I was last year privileged to join a newspaper which is hiring more journalists, investing more money in journalism, and giving its journalists the time to produce detailed public interest reportage and analysis. I have attempted to hold to account the powerful, regardless of party or posi...
Shortlist: Sharon O'Neill
Mediahuis
These THREE exclusives stories show the breathe of my reporting and my ability to secure agenda setting stories on any subject. I am a news editor, but a key part of my job is bringing my reporting skills to the paper, helping elevate it to a new level, in print, video and podcast form. 1: Splash and spread 10/7/2022: “I’m lucky to ...
Stephanie Balloo
BirminghamLive/ Birmingham Mail Reach PLC
Since starting at BirminghamLive as a local journalist, I've earned myself respect with editors through tackling some of the most disturbing local crime stories our city has to offer. I've chosen a sample of my exclusives, acquired through nurturting contacts and various sources. The first, a front page spread in the Sunday Mercury, te...
Zak Garner-Purkis
MyLondon
The revelations within Zak’s stories in the past year have provided new insight into the workings of criminal networks and evidence of public bodies abusing their power. They all required the trust of sources who stood much to lose from speaking out but held information of vital public interest. His investigation into drug dealing i...
Reporter of the year (weekly)
Charles Thomson
Newsquest
I am Newsquest’s investigations reporter for London and Herts, serving four weekly papers. 1- After winning a three-year legal battle against Essex Police, I took on the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), setting a Freedom of Information (FOI) precedent. Since 2015, I have been investigating the alleged cover-up of a 1980s pa...
Gemma Gardner
Iliffe Media
My first submission follows a series of exclusive articles about the extreme pressures facing Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge as Covid numbers again began to rise last year. These included a piece on the number of staff absences after a tip off from a whistleblower. That article led to the discovery of a hospital staff website - vi...
Gill Sutherland
Stratford Herald/Iliffe Media
Content editor Gill (who triples up as passionate reporter and arts editor) has accrued more splashes than any other reporter in the last couple of years, 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 – and she brings t...
Lydia Chantler-Hicks
KM Media Group
My first entry is an exclusive that reveals the identity and story of a man who was found with a serious head injury in a school field in May 2020, before dying in hospital a few days later. I first covered this story when the then-anonymous man was found injured, and for 16 months after his death I doggedly asked the police at regular...
Paul Derrick
Bury Free Press/Suffolk New
I am the head of multi media news at the Bury Free Press newspaper and Suffolk News website. I began my journalism career at the then Scarborough Evening News newspaper after gaining a First Class BA Honours degree in Journalism Studies from the University of Sheffield. After qualifying as a senior reporter at the Scarborough Evening N...
Sports journalist of the year
Benjy Nurick
Southern Daily Echo
Earlier this year, the Southern Daily Echo embarked on the most seismic change to their digital sports coverage since the dawn of the internet age. In an effort to revamp and modernise the newspaper’s flagship Southampton Football Club coverage, the Daily Echo launched SaintsPlus - an online-only subscription service aimed at provid...
Samuel Luckhurst
Manchester Evening News
A Zoom or a phone call are incomparable with conversing in person but my interview with Luke Shaw on the eve of the Europa League final flowed well. I supplemented that with a chat with the United Champions League winner Owen Hargreaves; two interview features ahead of United's only final in the last four-and-a-half years. August 27 ...
Katie Sands
WalesOnline
Coverage of women's sports and women working in sport have for far too long been an afterthought at best, or a non-consideration at worst, in the British media, but I am very proud to say my passion for covering incredible stories about remarkable women in the sporting world has led to women's sport becoming a notable focus for WalesOn...
Alan Temple
DC Thomson
Within this submission are three article which are illustrative of my — and The Courier’s — coverage of one of the UK’s biggest sports and news stories of 2022. The signing of David Goodwillie, a Scotland international footballer branded a rapist by a civil court judge, threatened the very existence of Raith Rovers FC and led to 16 maj...
James Piercy
Bristol Live
In terms of historic moments in 2022 there was really only one event that dominated the Bristol sporting landscape. Bristol Rovers’ promotion on the final day of the League Two season, having not occupied a top three berth until the final moments of their 7-0 victory over Scunthorpe United was a football fable made true. A moment like...
Jon Colman
Newsquest Cumbria
My entry comprises two feature interviews and an exclusive story from my work covering Cumbrian sport for the News & Star (daily) and The Cumberland News (weekly). The first article is a front-page exclusive story resulting from a campaign I led on the newspaper’s behalf. After being informed by his friends that the late Cumbrian foo...
Mark Taylor
Cambridge Independent
My three pieces of work hopefully demonstrate finding different angles from different levels of sport. It so happens that in this instance the articles are all about football, but two of the pieces are about women's football, and one with a focus on the pan-ability game. The two pieces on women's football were written in the autumn/ear...
Neil Allen
Portsmouth News
Article 1 - Dion Donohue (Nov 20, 2021) In a heartbreaking exclusive, ex-Pompey defender Dion Donohue reveals how he escaped being sent to prison - before giving up his Football League career in 2021 to be with his dying niece. Donohue had persistently refused to speak publicly over the details behind his shock walking away from the p...
Specialist journalist of the year
Allison Morris
I have worked as a crime and security journalist for most of my 20 plus years in the business, almost exclusively in print. I was appointed as the Belfast Telegraph's Crime Correspondent in March 2021. It was the interview everyone wanted, a sit down with Hazel Stewart the Sunday school teacher, turned double killer. The killer denti...
Liam Thorp
Liverpool Echo
As the Political Editor for the Liverpool Echo - one of the biggest brands in regional news - I pride myself on leading the agenda and breaking the stories that matter most to the people of Merseyside. Over the past couple of years, my reporting has been dominated by the chaos surrounding Liverpool City Council and this makes up the bu...
Martyn McLaughlin
The Scotsman / Scotland on Sunday
The United Nations COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow was one of the most important diplomatic summits in history, tasked with averting the world from catastrophe. Few stories are more important, and Martyn McLaughlin’s reporting illuminated the hypocrisy, contradictions, and corporate interests underpinning - and undermining -...
Ben Arnold
Manchester Evening News
I started working at the Manchester Evening News in December, 2021, as its new food writer, tasked with telling the stories of our fine city through this lens. It has been a true privilege to do so. It's been difficult to choose three stories, but I feel these best illustrate the diversity of the city and the people I have met in wh...
Shortlist: Ciaran Barnes
Sunday Life
My name is Ciaran Barnes. I am the Chief Reporter with the Sunday Life newspaper in Belfast specialising in crime and security. My first submission reveals how MI5 shut down the New IRA terrorist gang in the wake of its murder of journalist Lyra McKee. It reveals how, in the days after the April 2019 killing, a decision was made at th...
Martin Williams
I specialise in investigations focussing particularly on 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. The ScottishPower story revealed for the ...
Feature writer of the year
Beth Abbit
Manchester Evening News
From the Holocaust survivor who endured four concentration camps, to the children exploited by criminals, and the bereavement team coping through a pandemic - these features aim to shine a light on lesser told stories. The first article - an investigation into child criminal exploitation (CCE) - gives insight into a hidden national iss...
Abbie Wightwick
WalesOnline
Every summer for the last few years I have received messages from people in Cardiff concerned about girls and women from some communities here being sent overseas for FGM in the brutally dubbed "cutting season". It's a sensitive issue which many affected, or at risk, won't speak publicly about. After several months of negotiations, whi...
Catriona Stewart
Liam Hendry's murder was appalling but, while a shattering incident for his family, it could have gone largely unnoticed in a city of high crime rates. I was working the morning after the incident when all police would say was that a teenager had been killed in a road traffic accident. However, I went out knocking doors and found Lia...
Ellie House
DC Thompson
Having been a journalist just shy of a decade, Ellie has always been driven by the stories beneath the headlines. But what does this mean for her entries? Ellie believes a good features writer must have the ability to truly listen, and to ask the right questions. Her submissions demonstrate her ability to do just that, and to identify...
Hannah Hiles
Stoke-on-Trent Live
Being a Sentinel / StokeOnTrentLive journalist is a huge honour and a privilege, and I take it seriously. This is my second stint working for the Sentinel - my first was back in 2001 to 2005 - and I was overjoyed to re-join my hometown newspaper last year after moving back to the area. As Life Writer I cover a wide range of subjects ...
Ryan O'Neill
WalesOnline
I have chosen these stories as I feel they provide excellent examples of exploring wider issues through strong personal stories from those at the heart of a topic. Following the success of the TV show 'It's a Sin', I discovered that Martyn Butler, who regularly engages with our local NewportOnline Facebook page and commented on our sto...
Sophie Halle-Richards
Manchester Evening News
I am a senior reporter and have worked at the Manchester Evening News since 2018. In my role I predominantly work on features and investigations - with a particular focus on issues affecting women. During the coronavirus pandemic, I dedicated a lot of my time reporting on how the NHS was coping, and the unrelenting pressure staff wer...
Will Hayward
WalesOnline
I don’t believe you can write a truly good feature about a place unless you really understand it. Unless you truly immerse yourself in something, how can you possibly reflect its realities to your readers? That is why when I saw that the Riverside area of Cardiff was found to have the highest levels of child poverty I spent six week...
Columnist of the year
Phil Wisdom
Devon and Cornwall Media
I’m well aware that in squaring up to columnists writing for dailies in some of our great cities whose circulations are orders of magnitude greater than that of my tiny weekly in the remote west, I’m chancing my arm somewhat. Wherever it appears, however many or few people read it, good writing is still good writing. I don’t write a co...
Alex Watson
The Press and Journal
Alex Watson is Head of Comment for The Press and Journal and has worked as a journalist in Scotland for eight years, latterly showing a great passion and talent for the art of column writing. This is reflected in her recent nomination for the competitive Nicola Barry Award at the 43rd Scottish Press Awards, as well as her win at the Wr...
Catherine Deveney
The Press and Journal
Catherine Deveney interlaces opinions on current news stories with her own past to produce consistently gripping and moving columns. Not one to mince her words, yet always calm and clear as a bell in her message, there is no other columnist writing today who you would rather have defending you in any argument. Her style is direct and...
Catriona Stewart
The Herald and Glasgow Times
Over the past year we've had a focus in the paper on helping our readers through the cost of living crisis. It has been dismaying, to say the least, to watch the unfolding shenanigans at Westminster while hearing first-hand from our audience how financially difficult life is becoming and the fears they have for the future. In my column...
Kerry Hudson
The Press and Journal
Author, memoirist and scriptwriter Kerry Hudson is a creative powerhouse, and one of Scotland’s most-talked about writers of the moment. People across the UK and the world are hungry for her articulate commentary on any and every subject, and that appetite is reflected in the online popularity of her columns, both on social media and t...
Patrick Ward
Archant
I started writing my column weekly for the Norwich Evening News in January 2022, having previously been an occasional opinion writer across Archant’s daily titles. My main role with the company is print journalist, which involves checking pages before going to press. Writing these columns gives me the opportunity to produce somethin...
Paul Kirkley
Cambridge Independent
Paul can write about anything from global events to goings-on in his village with complete dexterity - and humour. You can’t read a column from Paul without finding something to make you laugh or smile… even if you don’t agree with it. From explaining the precise root of the 21st century’s many problems, to exploring why it’s just so d...
Sam McBride
As the Northern Ireland Editor of the Belfast, I was last year privileged to join a newspaper which is hiring more journalists, investing more money in journalism, and giving its journalists the time to produce detailed public interest reportage and analysis. I have attempted to hold to account the powerful, regardless of party or posi...
Photographer of the year
James Hardisty
Yorkshire Post Newspapers
This year's entry demonstrates the diverse jobs covered by a regional press photographer on the Yorkshire Post. The 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 for a fe...
Keith Heppell
Cambridge Independent, Iliffe Media
Keith Heppell is a photographer that delivers the goods every time. And even if a crowd of photographers are at the same event, Keith will emerge with something different that captures the moment like no other image that day. Whether it requires vision, careful lighting or advanced technical execution, I know Keith will tell a story fo...
Mark Williamson
Stratford-upon-Avon Herald
I've been working as a news and features photo journalist for over 30 years primarily in the Midlands of England and covering all aspects of everyday life. The three photos I have chosen were all published online and in the Stratford Herald, a weekly newspaper primarily covering south Warwickshire and the North Cotswolds. The three pho...
Ian Longthorne
Maidenhead Advertiser
I’m the staff photographer for Baylis Media, who publish the Maidenhead Advertiser and the Windsor and Slough Express. I have worked for them for 14 years and before that as a freelance press photographer covering news in the Thames Valley. My entry includes work from the Maidenhead Advertiser since August 2021 up to September 2022. ...
John Myers
Walesonline / Bristol Post
My name is John Myers I have been a Staff press photographer for nearly 20-years most of that time spent working for Walesonline and it's previous forms. My first submission is from the kill the bill riots in Bristol where I worked on The Bristol Post for 12 months over the pandemic when Reach was restructuring. My shift started coveri...
Mhairi Edwards
DC Thomson
I was first handed a proper camera in 2012 whilst on work experience with Dundee based publisher DC Thomson. During summers off university, I gained invaluable experience working alongside the snappers at The Evening Telegraph. For the last 7 years I has been shooting full time for all DC Thomson titles, including The Courier and The S...
Shortlist: Steven MacDougall
DC Thomson
My name is Steve MacDougall and I have been a staff photographer with DC Thomson since 2007. In that time, I have been lucky enough to receive three nominations at the Scottish Press Awards, once for News photography and twice for Sports photography. I have submitted three pictures for your consideration. The first image is a protes...
Tony Johnson
Yorkshire Post Newspapers
I'm fortunate to be a photographer with Yorkshire Post Newspapers since 2001 following a period with sister group Ackrill Newspapers in Harrogate since the early 90's. #27 September 2022..... Swordsmith Peter Hopkinson at J. Adams Ltd in Sheffield. Peter was solely tasked making the ceremonial swords used by the Household Division gua...
Designer of the year
Raymond Esteban
Belfast Telegraph
As a graphic designer for the Belfast Telegraph I am submitting cover artwork I have produced showcasing the various cover stories within some Belfast Telegraph supplements. Submission 1: BELFAST (THE MOVIE) - Belfast Telegraph Weekend Magazine What better way to illustrate Kenneth Branagh's great movie - a Belfast mural! Using the iconic black and white image of Buddy (Jude Hill), with sword and bin lid in hand, I added colour to the image and overlayed it on a textured brick wall background. Adding Branagh's signature finished the piece. Submission 2: COMIC BOOK GUYS - Belfast Telegraph Review Magazine Gillian Halliday's great piece on Northern Ireland's love affair with graphic novels had her interview Aaron Flanagan from Belfast's local comic book store, Comic Book Guys. Using an image of Aaron I created a comic book character and retro background to complete the effect. Moving inside the magazine I continued the comic book theme, designing pages 2 & 3 in a comic book style. Submission 3: EURO 2022 - Belfast Telegraph Supplement Design of front cover and Euro 2022 wallchart. Submission 4: Guide to Sustainability - Belfast Telegraph Weekend Magazine Who would have thought! The map of Northern Ireland actually looks like a tree in full bloom! Creating the tree laiden in leaves then adding words, that were all things 'green' related, gave what I think was a simple yet effect cover illustration.
Ian Bond
Hull Daily Mail
While managing a very busy Humber production team with the responsibility of two daily and five weekly newspapers, I never forget the importance of good design and the impact it can have on our products and community. I think my submissions shows the variety and range of my skills, to go from front page layouts to dealing with breaking...
Shortlist: Gary Beckwith
ncjMedia
The takeover of Newcastle United was obviously massive news for the North East and deserved a front and back page treatment which would reflect its importance and leap off the newsstands. I decided to adorn the front page in Newcastle United black and white stripes and create a glinting club crest to symbolise the new era for the club ...
Simon Hill
Express & Star / Shropshire Star
My job is to showcase the words of our amazing writers and sub editors. I try to entice the reader, to make them stop and look at a page in more detail - or to buy a copy of the newspaper from the news stand, where it is fighting for attention among a sea of national publications. My approach is to use strong typography and layout, to ...
Scoop of the year
Child's death linked to damp council flat
Manchester Evening News
A two-year-old boy died after living with severe breathing issues at a mouldy social housing flat. Awaab Ishak’s family had been trying to get Rochdale Boroughwide Housing to resolve the damp even before he had been born. Tragically, a post-mortem linked the damp and mould at his home to his death. I spent the summer speaking to fami...
Sacked police officer named after newspaper's High Court challenge
Basingstoke Gazette
I won a High Court legal battle to reveal the identity of disgraced Pc Terry Cooke after his lawyers and Hampshire Constabulary falsely claimed he was protected by an anonymity order after he was sacked at a secret misconduct hearing. With Newsquest's support, we launched judicial review proceedings, challenging why we [the press] were...
Someone else is buried in dad's grave
The Northern Echo
This is an example of regional newspapers at their best. Uncovering an issue affecting one reader which then subsequently becomes national news and an issue which affects the whole county. It then became a government focus after being raised in the Commons by an MP and is now the subject of an inquiry – all of which would never have co...
Did hospital bomber exploit failing system?
Liverpool ECHO
Emad Al Swealmeen's terror attack targeted a women's hospital filled with expectant mums and new-born babies. The consequences could have been incredibly tragic had the device he built had its desired effect. Instead, he was the only the person who died following his actions, but his ability to plot, prepare and carry out such an appal...
Legal advice on Scottish independence referendum to be released after transparency defeat for Scottish ministers
Conor Matchett
The scoop I want to highlight is my investigation into legal advice around a second Scottish independence referendum. This investigation - which is still ongoing and pending a decision by the Scottish Information Commissioner - focused on what the Scottish Government and Nicola Sturgeon had been advised by their legal advisers. Th...
Shortlist: Obscene': Astonishment as ScottishPower pays out dividends worth... £7bn
The Herald / Herald on Sunday
This exclusive is an investigative front page agenda-setting article in the public interest that literally holds power to account. The ScottishPower story revealed for the first time that £7bn in dividends had been provided by the Glasgow-based energy firm to its foreign owners as it emerged it was pushing for a taxpayer-supported £10...
Pensioner dies after waiting 40 hours for ambulance
The Herald
This exclusive published on September 16 revealed the harrowing story of Gerard Brown, who died at home 40 hours after his family - and subsequently his GP - called for an ambulance. Such was the shock and disgust over the case led First Minister's Questions at the Scottish Parliament that day, and led to the Scot Govt calling in Army ...
Scottish firm linked to Russian invasion put on trade blacklist
Scotland on Sunday
With major international stories dominating the news agenda over the past year, Martyn McLaughlin’s agenda-setting scoop in March 2022 was a textbook example of how the regional press can break vital investigations that are not only of interest to local audiences, but readers around the world. In the days and weeks after Russia laun...
Campaign of the year
Jane Haynes, Boot rogue landlords out of Birmingham
Birmingham Live and Mail
It appeared to be a fairly routine community story when Jane Haynes visited residents worried about drugs and violence but it was to be the touchstone for an investigation into a hitherto unreported scandal. What she found was a staggering supported housing crisis that had blown up in Birmingham. Jane found multiple companies had desc...
Help us to help Hospice at Home
Cumberland & Westmorland Herald and Keswick Reminder
For seven weeks from July 10th, 2021, The Cumberland & Westmorland Herald and sister publication The Keswick Reminder ran a campaign to raise vital funds for, and awareness of, a local North Cumbrian charity, Hospice at Home Carlisle and North Lakeland. The charity provides end of life care in their own homes to people right across 1,5...
CNJ Food Aid Van (Covid + Ukraine)
Camden New Journal
During the Covid pandemic, our newspaper decided it could not stay in our bedrooms and take stories from tweets. We owed it to our readers to do more, so we set up the Camden New Journal's Food Aid Van project. The aim was simple: to use our wealth of community contacts built up over many years to get food and supplies to people who fe...
Covid memorial campaign
The Herald
It was a question asked as Scotland was beginning to emerge from the first national lockdown, how do we remember Covid and its impact? In an article by journalist Deborah Anderson in The Herald, a Glasgow minister began that conversation and through his role recognised communities needed to come together to heal. It led to The Herald ...
Feed a Family
Express & Star
Our Feed a Family Campaign was launched as an emergency measure after foodbanks reported they were running dry of stock. We have profiled the plight of foodbanks as well as those they are helping. We have provided a register of groups offering help and advice people on the best items of give. And we have also set up a a Cost of Liv...
Harper-Lee's Law
Stoke Sentinel
Harper-Lee Fanthorpe's death was a tragedy waiting to happen. In homes all around the UK button batteries sit inside electronic devices and, most worryingly, they are often found in children’s toys. When we first heard about Harper-Lee’s death and the circumstances surrounding it we knew something had to be done. While this tragedy ha...
The Big Food Appeal
Press and Journal / Evening Express
The Big Food Appeal started life as our latest annual festive campaign – but it quickly became clear it was destined to be much bigger. With so many families facing going hungry over Christmas, we had teamed up with one of the region’s biggest foodbank charities to provide ways for readers to make a difference. We were delighted...
Shortlist: Whose Side Are You On?
Liverpool Echo
Some campaigns are meticulously planned and others are spontaneous. Whose Side Are You On? was our instinctive response to the fatal shooting in August this year of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel - a little girl fatally wounded in her own home - the very place where she should be safe. We knew instinctively reporting on the trage...
Reporting communities award
#HandsNotHate
BirminghamLive/Birmingham Mail
#HandsNotHate - LGBT community BirminghamLive stood alongside members of the city's LGBT community amid a rising tide of violence. There were four high-profile attacks in quick succession - the last of which was a man assaulted for holding hands with his partner - hence the name #HandsNotHate. A campaign was launched, run by communit...
Brummie Muslims
BirminghamLive/Birmingham Mail
Brummie Muslims Brummie Muslims is a newsletter launched by BirminghamLive in April 2022 at the beginning of Ramadan, as part of a renewed focus on engaging with Birmingham's Muslim communities on a deeper and more consistent level. Led by trainee reporter Anisah Vasta and people and politics editor Jane Haynes, it is a product we...
WalesOnline
WalesOnline takes seriously the responsibility that comes with reporting from a country with some of the most deprived areas in western Europe. These are people who need more than anyone to have their voices elevated. Some of the most economically challenged parts of Wales are also some of our most diverse, intensifying the need for pr...
Shortlist: Media Wales
While Media Wales provides excellent and informative news for the entire country, our coverage of Cardiff - our capital city - is exemplary. With its unique culture and history, there are more than a few avenues to explore in our writing. Whether this is language, gentrification, redevelopment, or its colourful characters. But like oth...
Ryan O'Neill (WalesOnline)
WalesOnline
Ringland is traditionally one of Newport's most neglected areas but is on the cusp of redevelopment, which I felt would be a good reason to ask people what they thought of the area and its future plans. Ringland is tight-knit and understandably suspicious of press coverage, so I spent a couple of days down there chatting to passers-by,...
Shortlist: South Wales Argus
The South Wales Argus is at the heart of the communities we serve in Newport and Gwent. This year marked our 130th birthday, an occasion that brought home how embedded we are. When I meet people they often tell me how they are personally connected to the Argus, from delivering it when growing up to having family members who worked her...
The Herald and Glasgow Times
Glasgow's Govanhill is the most multi-cultural area of Scotland and has long been nicknamed "Scotland's Ellis Island". One of the reasons it's so diverse is thanks to the several Roma communities that have been settling there since 2007. Despite a long history in Scotland and more than a decade in Govanhill, the presence of the Roma...
WalesOnline (reporter Conor Gogarty)
WalesOnline
Story one: My piece on Rhys Langford came about after I spotted an online crowdfunder he had started for six-year-old cancer patient Jacob Jones. I messaged Rhys' family through the fundraising page, and although Rhys was too unwell to speak to me, I was able to interview his parents. They revealed that Rhys, who was severely disabled ...
Cathryn Nicholl Award
Oliver Pridmore
Nottingham Live
Since starting my full-time journalism career, I have worked for two publications. I started at the Lincolnshire Echo and Lincolnshire Live in July 2021, before moving to the Nottingham Post and Nottinghamshire Live in August 2022. Since being at the Nottingham Post, one of the biggest stories that we have been covering as a team is the trial and eventual conviction of the YouTuber and stalker Alex Belfield. During the trial, one of the most prominent witnesses giving evidence was the BBC and Channel 5 presenter Jeremy Vine, who particularly created headlines when describing Belfield as the "Jimmy Savile" of trolling. Given that Mr Vine is a well-known figure and given the power of his evidence in court, we felt that he would be a good interview subject following the trial to gain his perspective on Belfield and to give a sense of what it was like being pursued by him. Conscious that he had already given interviews to The Sunday Times and to BBC Newsnight, I methodically went through each of these interviews to determine what ground had already been covered and therefore to see what else we could learn from him ourselves. Top of my list was to delve deeper into his views on social media, given that he had been incredibly vocal in his previous interviews about the negative role played by social media companies in the Belfield affair, and yet he himself has also amassed a large following on Twitter. I therefore wanted to ask if the episode had caused him to reflect on his own presence on social media, and he told me that he and his wife were still discussing the possibility of him coming off social media altogether. This was just one of the important statements to come out of my interview with Jeremy Vine, alongside his view that the case represented the "peak" of online harassment and that he hoped Belfield would come out of prison a changed man. The piece resulting from the interview I feel gives a comprehensive perspective from one of Alex Belfield's victims about what it was like being pursued by a man who had come to be familiar to Nottingham Post readers given our coverage of the court trial.
Shortlist: To be announced at the awards ceremony
Digital initiative of the year
Highland League Weekly - The Press and Journal
Highland League Weekly
Highland League Weekly (HLW) is a Monday night web show from The Press and Journal (P&J) centered on the wonderful Breedon Highland League: a truly unique part of the UK football landscape - but one whose clubs, players and storylines are largely ignored by the national media. The P&J, with a patch which covers the Highland League’s h...
Belfast Telegraph: The Northern Ireland Assembly Election
The Belfast Telegraph’s digital coverage of the Assembly election in May 2022, which saw Sinn Fein become the largest party in Northern Ireland, was the result of superb teamwork across editorial and development teams. It showcased our technical skills, editorial know-how when covering big news days, our expertise and knowledge of the ...
BirminghamLive/Commonwealth Stories
With the Commonwealth Games coming to Birmingham in 2022, BirminghamLive decided nobody was asking the right questions - so we set ourselves an ambitious challenge. Specifically, with the Games coming to a hyper-diverse city, we felt someone had to ask what the Commonwealth - and its roots in empire, means to the people who call Birm...
Shortlist: Reach PLC - Showcase team
Our small team curates the biggest and best stories Reach titles have to offer - and quietly delivers millions of page views every day. Content is hand-picked, edited and adapted from 50 of our publishers, ready to be surfaced on news platforms and presented directly to those who actually want to see it. Our editorial decisions an...
The Courier/Press and Journal: 50 Years of Baby Names Data
The Courier/Press and Journal data team were put together with the aim of democratising data for our readers. They combine technical skills with traditional reporting to tell stories in new and innovative ways. The DC Thomson data team analysed around fifty years of available data on baby names in Scotland and created a series of ar...
The Courier/Press and Journal: Tracking the NHS in Scotland
The Courier / Press and Journal
Tracking the NHS in Scotland Credit: Lesley-Anne Kelly, Head of Data Journalism Emma Morrice, Data Journalist Joely Santa Cruz, Data Journalist Cheryl Livingstone, Special Projects Editor Richard Prest, Head of Content Development The Courier/Press and Journal data team were put together with the aim of democratising data for o...
The Courier/Press and Journal: WW1 Remembrance
The Courier / Press and Journal
WW1 Remembrance Credit: Lesley-Anne Kelly, Head of Data Journalism Emma Morrice, Data Journalist Joely Santa Cruz, Data Journalist Cheryl Livingstone, Special Projects Editor Richard Prest, Head of Content Development The Courier/Press and Journal data team were put together with the aim of democratising data for our readers....
WalesOnline
Wales Online
Our Covid Cymru special report is unlike anything else that featured on WalesOnline, or any other regional news website, during the pandemic. It tells the stories of families who lost loved ones and their fight for an independent inquiry into the Welsh Government’s handling of it. We wanted to bridge the gap between product and jour...
Supplement of the year
Warrington Guardian
Life In Lockdown: One Year On anniversary supplement – published inside the Warrington Guardian on Thursday, March 25, 2021 AS a weekly print title, the supplements we produce in the Warrington Guardian are usually modest in size compared to those put together by some of the country’s biggest dailies. However we do always strive to...
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Altrincham Today
There are three main things we would like to highlight which we believe are fundamental to the ongoing success of our print magazine. The first relates to our distribution model. Instead of the scattergun approach favoured by many local publishers, we have deliberately sought to promote a 'scarcity effect' and make our readers want t...
Mediahuis/Belfast Telegraph Weekend magazine
Belfast Telegraph Weekend Magazine
In April 2021, Belfast Telegraph launched its revamped, redesigned Weekend magazine. Already delivering quality content on Northern Irish issues and exclusive interviews with homegrown and international talent, its make-over ensured the magazine stood out from weekend competitors. Adding to the proposition, Weekend began working with ...
BUSINESSiQ
The quarterly BUSINESSiQ magazine is the flagship business product of The Northern Echo, based at the heart of the North East region which is undergoing the most radical transformation of its fortunes. As such, the demand for quality and insight is permanent. It has to look worthy of its subject and provide in-depth – but accessible –...
Hereford Times
OnePlanet is an eight-page supplement published every month in the weekly Hereford Times. It aims to raise awareness of environmental issues, with a specific focus on Herefordshire. A key plank of our content has been reports published as part of our Save The Wye campaign. It has highlighted the plight of the beautiful river Wye, whic...
Mediahuis/Belfast Telegraph Review
Belfast Telegraph Review
The Belfast Telegraph Review, a perfect foil to its sister supplement, Weekend magazine, has agenda-setting journalism at its heart. It focuses on the issues, good, bad, light-hearted or serious, pertinent to Northern Ireland, and revisits and re-examines relevant political, historical and cultural anniversaries. Local topics dominate,...
Memories - The Northern Echo
The Northern Echo
MEMORIES in The Northern Echo is an institution. It is a 12-page supplement that appears on a Saturday, the paper’s best-selling day, and it has just published its 600th edition. It is about far more than just nostalgia – although it is dripping in that, as can be seen from the three sample editions which include features on old buses,...
Shortlist: Newsquest Farmer
Editor of Farmer supplement, Maureen Hodges, has been a journalist for nearly 50 years and half of that working in the field of farming and rural affairs. She writes farming news and features for all our publications, which includes two regional and five weeklies, as well as a monthly Farmer supplement, an annual Farmer Magazine and i...
Front page of the year
The Chronicle
In October 2021, the Newcastle United takeover saga came to a swift and stunning conclusion. It was the culmination of 18 months of on-off drama as it was revealed that controversial owner Mike Ashley had finally sold the club. It was a moment that fans had begun to think might never happen. A mammoth story in both the news and spo...
The Herald, Glasgow
The cost of living crisis is the biggest issue facing our readers and it demanded a big response from us. This front page aimed to highlight concerns that Scotland was heading for a “humanitarian disaster” and increase pressure on politicians to act. In a radical break from our usual page 1 style, we decided the issue was important e...
Belfast Telegraph
I’M IN A DAZE There’s a reason why all journalists have heard the phrase ‘bad news sells’ so many times. Front pages are dominated by death, destruction, scandal, crime and all manner of societal problems. At times it seems that all human life is on there, except for the good bits. It hardly needs saying that the Belfast Telegraph is n...
Shortlist: Liverpool Echo
The senseless death of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, a little girl shot dead in her own home, shocked the nation. Heartbreakingly, it happened exactly 15 years to the day 11-year schoolboy Rhys Jones was gunned down as he walked home from football practice. Olivia’s death meant Liverpool was once again in the spotlight for all th...
Shortlist: Manchester Evening News
It took a great deal of negotiation for us to get exclusive access inside Greater Manchester hospitals and we are immensely proud of the results. In a series of articles we looked at how the pandemic impacted on the NHS, staff and patients, not just in ICUs but across the healthcare system. We prioritised quality storytelling, use ...
Shortlist: South Wales Echo
It’s the front page Wales has been waiting 64 years for. Despite boasting some of the greatest footballing talent of their generation - from John Charles to Ryan Giggs, and from Ian Rush to Gareth Bale - Wales has only ever once qualified for the World Cup finals… way back in 1958. Over the years there have been so many “nearly” m...
Shortlist: The Herald on Sunday
6/3/22 - TSAR WARS The invasion of Ukraine has taken place the previous week, and we had splashed with a simple but effective concept - 'SLAVA UKRAINI' as the headline and a famous quote from JFK from the dawn of the Cold War (We shall pay any price, bear any burden ...). This gained significant traction online - going viral in U...
News brand of the year (Small)
KM Group - Kentish Gazette
Kentish Gazette
When a man died after being found seriously injured in a Canterbury school field, we didn’t think it would take two years of relentless investigation to discover his identity. But those were the lengths we went to in order to ensure he didn’t become just a faceless statistic. Police had refused to name him and then oversaw a catalogu...
Iliffe Media / Cambridge Independent
Cambridge Independent
The Cambridge Independent has had an incredible year, supporting our community, enhancing our reputation and breaking major stories in the region. We have become the region’s go-to newspaper for informed analysis, debate and comment, leading the way in discussions over Cambridge’s under-pressure transport, housing and healthcare infras...
Newsquest Media Group
The Impartial Reporter
The Impartial Reporter will mark 200 years of serving the community of Fermanagh and its surrounding counties in 2025 and, as such has dealt with and survived many challenges in its history. More importantly, it has been a constant for this community in tough times and good. In this respect, the last two years have been no different. ...
Camden New Journal
THE Camden New Journal celebrated its 40th birthday this year with a commitment to the determined journalism which led to it being named the Free Newspaper of the Year in the previous version of these awards. No reporter jobs have been lost and we still have a fully functioning newsroom in the heart of the community. We distribute clos...
Shortlist: DC Thomson
Evening Express
The Evening Express has a history of being a campaigning and championing newspaper and, with the tough times facing our readers in recent years, that stance has been more important than ever before.We have always said the reader is at the heart of everything we do. But, following a newsroom transformation and different approach to our ...
Iliffe Media
Kent Messenger
A fail-safe way to judge a local newspaper's relationship with its community is through the size of its mail bag. And while times have changed, and that bag is now largely electronic, there's no doubting the Kent Messenger continues to have an unwavering bond with its readers. Hundreds of messages a week request the newsdesk give a voi...
Islington Tribune
THE new look awards are now 'brand of the year', but the Islington Tribune stills see itself as a simple but classic local newspaper true to its core values – campaigning, informing, entertaining – and has in the past been named 'free newspaper of the year' in the previous version of the awards. We print and distribute more than 20,000...
Shortlist: The Ulster Herald
The UlsterHerald has been a central part of the local community here in West Tyrone since 1901. Our ethos is very much community-focused: We place an extremely strong emphasis on sourcing exclusive news, sport and feature content to reflect the high and lows of local life, and the local issues that are important to the community. We...
News brand of the year (Large)
Liverpool Echo
The Liverpool Echo is one of the most high-profile brands in regional journalism and enjoys a special relationship with its readers. The Echo found its voice during covid and we use our position to represent our audience, champion our city and and ask questions on its behalf. Our print product remains the best-selling paid-for regiona...
Belfast Telegraph
The Belfast Telegraph is now a multi-platform media brand. The reorganisation of resources which started in 2020 continued in 2021 as we hired some of the best talent in Northern Ireland. Sam McBride, Allison Morris, Lisa Smyth, Aine Toner, Ciaran Dunbar, Sharon O’Neill have all been recruited and all have a significant impact on what ...
KentOnline
KentOnline is one of the country’s most successful regional news sites, with research by Press Gazette illustrating the depth of engagement it shares with readers. Analysis revealed readers spend an average of 18 minutes on the site, more than twice as many as the second-placed news brand. KentOnline is also the most profitable pr...
Shortlist: Manchester Evening News
The pandemic changed life for millions of us - and it changed us as a news brand. As we exposed flaws in the national Covid strategy, we spoke not just to Greater Manchester, but to the country. The confidence this demanded had been growing since the Manchester Arena terror attack of 2017, when a voice for the region was needed. It ha...
Midland News Association
Shropshire Star
Shropshire is used to flooding. The River Severn is both friend and foe to the county. When the rains arrived in February, tens of thousands were put on alert to evacuate. The towns of Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, Ironbridge and, across the border, Bewdley, were all badly affected. The Shropshire Star became one of the main sources of info...
Newsquest (North East) - The Northern Echo
The Norther Echo
FRESH from celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2020, The Northern Echo continues to challenge those in authority in a bid to get change for the better, and to champion its area of the North East and its people.In the last 18 months, it has delivered quality, and often hard-hitting, journalism while at the same time growing its audienc...
Oxford Mail
-2022 saw daily newspaper the Oxford Mail return to a campaigning spirit with a series of hard-hitting exclusives and investigations dominating the news agenda -Strong audience across digital and print with a combined reach of 394,000 adults each month = 79% of adults in the city 2022 saw historic news brand the Oxford Mail lead the...
News website of the year
Belfast Telegraph
For more than 150 years the Belfast Telegraph has been connecting the people of Northern Ireland with informed journalism, providing insight and opinion on the news that matters. Our digital offering is now the cornerstone of this mission. Our site leads the way for digital audiences in Northern Ireland with a mix of original premium...
Manchester Evening News
The cost of living crisis has dominated our content this year. As the country emerged from Covid, we knew we had to respond quickly to the new challenge that was unfolding. Each week from October 2021, as the price of essentials rocketed, our reporters went onto the streets to talk to people. The stories we uncovered are harrowing. Th...
WalesOnline
WalesOnline prides itself on investigative, campaigning and public interest journalism. We’ve held the Welsh and UK governments to account, been referenced in the Senedd and House of Commons, and the chancellor abruptly ended an interview because of our questions. Our audience grew 25% in three years and our website reaches more than 5...
ChronicleLive
ChronicleLive delivers responsive, responsible, trusted digital journalism with a clear set of brand values. We are the biggest news website in the North East, with +35m monthly page views and 6m monthly users. In September 2022, audience grew by 23% year-on-year and in August we were fourth-top UK news brand for growth. ChronicleLiv...
Shortlist: DC Thomson
DC Thomson’s digital transformation promised a newsroom revolution driven by an unprecedented upskilling of journalists and advances in insights and data. The Courier had grown its subscriber base by more than 10,000 and attracts more than 1m unique users per month. In order to achieve our ambitious plans, we increased our cohor...
KentOnline
KentOnline is one of the country’s most successful regional news sites, with research by Press Gazette illustrating the depth of engagement it shares with readers. Analysis revealed readers spend an average of 18 minutes on the site, more than twice as many as the second-placed news brand. KentOnline is also the most profitable pr...
Shortlist: Liverpool Echo
The Liverpool Echo reached 11 million people in September 2022, according to IPSOS Iris data, showing how our influence stretches beyond the boundaries of Liverpool. From January 2021 to October 2022 we saw 24% page view growth on our sites with the figure rising to 49% for non-sport content and 74% for news. Live reporting remains a ...