The Guardian dominated the main accolades of the evening winning the coveted Newspaper of the Year Award in recognition of the paper’s ongoing reporting into government surveillance activities in the USA, Britain and elsewhere.
The Daily Mail also took home four awards with Martin Samuel winning Sports Journalist of the Year and the daily paper sweeping the board in the popular paper categories. Reporter David Jones won Feature Writer of the Year (Pop), Jenny Johnston won Interviewer of the Year (Pop) and Dominic Lawson took home Columnist of the Year (Pop).
The Mail on Sunday’s exclusive into former Co-Op bank chief, Paul Flowers, saw the paper awarded the Scoop of the Year Award alongside being crowned the News Team of the Year.
It was described by the judges as a consistently great story-breaker that continues to produce quality journalism.
They said: “Incorporating sports coverage, exceptional columnists and a formidable package of political, business and entertainment news, The Mail on Sunday has witnessed a year of impeccable exclusives.
“From Reverend Flowers to Coulson and Brooks and Tony Blair and Wendy Deng, when stories break, this paper knows what to do with them.”
The Sunday People was awarded the Front Page of the Year for its Nigella exclusive. The Sunday Times saw its health reporter Sarah-Kate Templeton take home the Science and Health Journalist of the Year award while thrice nominated Sunday Times columnist AA Gill was crowned the Feature Writer of the Year for the broadsheets. The evening also saw his foreign reporting highly commended.
The Financial Times took home three awards including Business and Finance Journalist of the Year for Sarah O’Connor, Columnist of the Year Broadsheet for Gillian Tett and Supplement of Year for the FT Weekend Magazine.
The Cudlipp Award, in honour of campaigns and investigations in any UK national newspaper, went to the London Evening Standard’s Frontline London campaign.
The Sun’s Ombudsman and former chairman of the London Press Club Ball, Philippa Kennedy was awarded the Journalists’ Charity Award which recognises outstanding contribution to journalism.
Kennedy revived the event as a fund-raiser for The Journalists’ Charity. So far the press club ball has made around £200,000 for the charity, as well as raising the profile of the LPC.
The judges said The Guardian showed courage editorially and consistently held others to high standards. It produced the most impactful piece of journalism during 2013 resulting in an international impact.
They added: “It broke a story of global significance that went to the heart of the debate on press freedom. The fact that the coverage polarised opinion even within the press showed how important it was.
“The job of a newspaper is to speak truth to power and the past year has seen The Guardian do this with will and verve.”
The Guardian’s revelations also formed the backdrop for the paper’s Digital Award of the Year while its investigative reporting into the work of undercover police officers saw reporters Rob Evans and Paul Lewis take home the News Reporter of the Year accolade. Patrick Kingsley, the paper’s Egypt correspondent also won Young Journalist of the Year for his 2013 reporting into the Cairo massacre.
The Times’ Anthony Loyd was awarded the Foreign Reporter of the Year Award for exposing the use of chemical warfare in Syria while columnist Janice Turner took home Interviewer of the Year (Broadsheet) for her train crash encounter with the Welsh actor Rhys Ifans.
Her encounter with Ifans, who started the interview by allegedly stating “I’m going out for a fag and a p***” and ended with him saying, “I am bored with you” was described by the judges as hugely entertaining and refreshingly unpredictable.
The paper’s draughtsman Peter Brookes was awarded the Cartoonist of the Year Award alongside recognition of its comprehensive sports coverage with Sports Team of the Year.
The Sun, The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Reuters and The Observer also took home an award each.
Bob Satchwell, chairman of the judges and executive director of the Society of Editors said that the awards recognised the sheer quality and range of journalism appearing in print and on its related digital platforms, day in, day out.
The awards were supported by Camelot, Google, Unison, Nikon, the Gorkana Group, Reuters, EY, HW Fisher, Iceland, L’Oreal, Challenge Trophies and the Press Association.
Video highlights of the event can be viewed here.
The full list of winners:
YOUNG JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Winner: Patrick Kingsley – The Guardian
Highly commended: Lee Price – The Sun
BUSINESS AND FINANCE JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Winner: Sarah O’Connor – Financial Times
Highly Commended: Iain Dey- The Sunday Times
POLITICAL JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Winner: Fraser Nelson – The Daily Telegraph
FOREIGN REPORTER OF THE YEAR
Winner: Anthony Loyd – The Times
Highly Commended: AA Gill – The Sunday Times
SCIENCE AND HEALTH JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Winner: Sarah-Kate Templeton – The Sunday Times
Highly Commended: Steve Connor – The Independent on Sunday
SPECIALIST JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Winner: Chris Hughes – Daily Mirror
Highly Commended: Leslie Hook – Financial Times and Michael Gillard – The Sunday Times
SPORTS JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Winner: Martin Samuel – Daily Mail
Highly Commended: Paul Hayward – The Daily Telegraph
FEATURE WRITER OF THE YEAR – BROADSHEET
Winner: AA Gill – The Sunday Times
Highly Commended: David James Smith – The Sunday Times
FEATURE WRITER OF THE YEAR – POP
Winner: David Jones – Daily Mail
Highly Commended: Ian Birrell – The Mail on Sunday
INTERVIEWER OF THE YEAR – BROADSHEET
Winner: Janice Turner – The Times
Highly Commended: Camilla Long – The Sunday Times
INTERVIEWER OF THE YEAR – POP
Winner: Jenny Johnston – Daily Mail
Highly Commended: Sue Reid – Daily Mail
COLUMNIST OF THE YEAR- BROADSHEET
Winner: Gillian Tett – Financial Times
Highly Commended: Ian Jack – The Guardian
COLUMNIST OF THE YEAR – POP
Winner: Dominic Lawson – Daily Mail
Highly Commended: Craig Brown – Daily Mail
CRITIC OF THE YEAR
Winner: Rowan Moore – The Observer
Highly commended: Peter Bradshaw – The Guardian
SHOWBIZ REPORTER OF THE YEAR
Winner: Dan Wootton – The Sun
Highly Commended: Laura Armstrong – The Sun
PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Winner: Roland Leon – Sunday Mirror
Highly Commended: Jack Hill – The Times
SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Winner: Darren Staples – Reuters
Highly Commended: Mike Egerton – Press Association
CARTOONIST OF THE YEAR
Winner: Peter Brookes – The Times
Highly Commended: Chris Riddell – The Observer
FRONT PAGE OF THE YEAR
Winner: Boiling Point – Sunday People
Highly commended: The Son – The Sun
SUPPLEMENT OF THE YEAR
Winner: FT Weekend Magazine – Financial Times
Highly Commended: The Observer Tech Monthly – The Observer
THE DIGITAL AWARD
Winner: theguardian.com
Highly commended: Mirror.co.uk and The Times
SCOOP OF THE YEAR
Winner: Crystal Meth Shame of Bank Chief – Nick Craven and Ross Slater – The Mail on Sunday
Highly Commended: Edward Snowden Files – The Guardian
Victimised for blowing whistle on NHS chiefs – Claire Ellicott – Daily Mail
NEWS REPORTER OF THE YEAR
Winner: Rob Evans and Paul Lewis – The Guardian
Highly commended: Watt and Newell – The Daily Telegraph
SPORTS TEAM OF THE YEAR
Winner: The Times
Highly commended: Daily Mail
NEWS TEAM OF THE YEAR
Winner: The Mail on Sunday
Highly commended: Daily Mirror
JOURNALISTS’ CHARITY AWARD
Winner: Philippa Kennedy
THE CUDLIPP AWARD
Winner: Frontline London – London Evening Standard
Highly Commended: Stop the Bedroom Tax – Sunday People and Britain’s Hidden Slaves – The Sunday Times
NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR
Winner: The Guardian
Highly commended: The Mail on Sunday
