Laura Kuenssberg picked up the top prize at the Stationers’ Hall reception in London because, the judges said: “In a tumultuous year she rose to the challenge and made the story of Brexit her own.”
Syrian citizen journalists reporting for Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently were given the Marie Colvin Award. The judges said of this entry: “Given what those people have done and the price they have paid, it would be odd to put anyone ahead of them.”
One of the founders of the site, Abdalaziz Alhamza, travelled to London to pick up the award and received a standing ovation from the assembled journalists.
He said: “Our work shows that we can fight arms with words, and that ultimately is the only way to defeat them, and ISIS knows it. That is why it has killed many of our colleagues both in Syria and even outside of Syria. ISIS is afraid. It is afraid most of one idea: Liberty.”
The Guardian and BBC Panorama were both named winners of Investigation of the Year for their work on the Panama Papers scandal.
The prize for foreign journalism went to Channel 4’s Waad Al-Kateab who is currently trapped in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
The judges said: “Her sensitive, visceral reports from Aleppo showed immense bravery.
“No-one could watch two brothers weeping for their dead sibling in a hospital surgery or her report on the life and death of a simple flower seller and not feel that this is as close as you can get to experiencing the full, immediate, unmediated horror of the Syrian catastrophe.”
Press Gazette editor Dominic Ponsford, said: “As an industry we face a constant fight for survival – attacked by everyone from Google and Facebook (taking our ads) to the police who have been jailing our sources and spying on our phone records.
“The work on display helps explain why what we do is important – and why it should be cherished and encouraged.
“This event aims to bang the drum for the best of what we do as the British industry which holds everyone else to account.”
Full list of winners:
LOCAL HEROES AWARD
Birmingham Mail, Andy Richards, for the campaign to resume the Birmingham pub bombing victims’ inquest
BUSINESS, FINANCE AND ECONOMICS JOURNALISM
Sponsored by TSB
The Guardian, Simon Goodley, for: Revealed: how Sports Direct effectively pays below minimum wage, A day at ‘the gulag’: what it’s like to work at Sports Direct’s warehouse and Sports Direct warehouse workers to receive back pay
SPECIALIST JOURNALISM
Health Service Journal patient safety correspondent Shaun Lintern, for: Watchdog resigns over deputy’s sexual harassment cover-up, Investigations launched into Stafford Hospital death ‘cover up‘ and Huge leak reveals BMA plan to ‘draw out’ junior doctors dispute
POLITICS JOURNALISM
The Times, Rachel Sylvester, for: Being a mother gives me edge on May—Leadsom, As Labour splits, a new party is emerging and Gove picks cabinet fight over deal with Saudis.
SPORTS JOURNALISM
Sponsored by St Mary’s Twickenham University
Daily Mail, Matt Lawton, for: Golden girl in drug ban drama, Coe ‘misled MPs over doping at Olympics’ and Now GB cyclist fails drugs test
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY JOURNALIST
Sponsored by Astellas
The Times, Billy Kenber, for: ‘Extortionate’ prices add £260m to NHS drug bill, Drug ‘profiteers’ face fines and Huge price rise forces NHS
CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Bournemouth University
Sunday People, Martyn Halle, for: ‘Go home unless you are dying’, campaign exposing shortcomings at North Middlesex Hospital
POPULAR JOURNALISM
The Sun, Dan Jones, for: Bung charity’s £47m OAP deals, Sun victory as Age UK caves in and Taking the OAP: Charity punts dearer power to old
SCOOP OF THE YEAR
Daily Telegraph, Charles Moore, for: My secret father, DNA tests reveal Archbishop of Canterbury’s astonishing family past
PHOTOJOURNALISM
Sponsored by The Mega Agency
Mail on Sunday, Philip Ide
DIGITAL INNOVATION
Sponsored by NEWSTAG
TheGuardian.com for: 6X9 – A virtual experience of solitary confinement
INVESTIGATION OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Transparency International
Winners:
The Guardian for: The Panama Papers
BBC Panorama – Richard Bilton, James Oliver, Jonathan Coffey, David Thompson, Andrew Head for: Tax Havens of the Rich and Powerful Exposed (also on the Panama Papers)
NEW JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Stationers’ Crown Woods Academy
Louise Callaghan, The Sunday Times, for: Turks crush coup; Cold, held like cattle, refugees grow sick in Greek island ‘jail’ and How ISIS Slaughtered our city
FOREIGN AFFAIRS JOURNALISM
Channel 4 News, Waad Al-Khatib, for: A life in the day of Aleppo, The last flower-seller of Aleppo and Mayissa’s story
JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Gorkana Jobs
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg
THE MARIE COLVIN AWARD
Supported by Reporters Without Borders
Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently.
The Press Gazette British Journalism Awards was sponsored by Heineken.
