Hull retains Daily crown in O2 Media Awards
BBC wins airwaves battle and ex Yorkshire Post boss is honoured
The Hull Daily Mail retained its crown as Yorkshire’s top Daily Newspaper in this year’s O2 Media Awards.
Mail staffers Pheobe Jackson-Edwards and Jim Coldwell added to the Mail’s haul, picking up the titles of Feature Writer and Young Journalist of the Year respectively.
Mail editor Neil Hodgkinson paid tribute to the hard work of his “brilliant editorial team” after the ceremony at Leeds Metropolitan University last night.
The Mail was praised by awards judges for: “Delivering a newspaper completely in tune with the communities it served.”
BBC journalists won the battle of the airwaves. Look North reporter Charlotte Leeming was named TV Journalist of the Year and Danni Hewson Business Journalist of the Year. Newsroom colleague Dan Johnson added to the BBC tally picking up the Scoop of the Year for his investigation into police collusion over witness statements during the Orgreave Miners Strike riots. Dan’s award was announced by Channel Four News anchorman Jon Snow.
GMTV Daybreak presenter Helen Fospero, who began her career on newspapers in Grimsby and Scunthorpe, crowned BBC Radio Sheffield Team of the Year while BBC Radio York reporter Elly Fiorentini was named Radio Journalist of the Year. Schoolgirl Mary Holmes became the O2 awards’ youngest ever winner. The 11-year-old picked up the Emerging Talent title for her radio broadcasts on York City’s cup run for BBC Radio York.
ITV Calendar’ Chris Dawkes was named best Sports Journalist. He received his award from cricketing legend Dickie Bird. Other celebrity guests included Emmerdale actors Nicola Wheeler and Alycia Eyo and Yorkshire Bank chairman and former head of Yorkshire TV Richard Gregory.
In the Weekly Newspaper category it was the Barnsley Chronicle, one of the country’s few remaining broadsheets, which took top honours. Judges loved the paper’s approach to news and willingness to introduce new features.
“This was a well designed, well considered and thought through newspaper with good use of pictures and high story count. An excellent package,” they added.
Bradford City manager Phil Parkinson gave the Specialist Publication of the Year award to the Bradford Telegraph and Argus. The T&A editorial team’s coverage of the Bantam’s historic League Cup run had been “superb” he said.
BBC Breakfast presenters Bill Turnbull and Louise Minchin named Rob Waugh of the Yorkshire Post as the News Reporter of the Year for a superb portfolio containing some of the best exclusives of the year.
Local communities Minister Eric Pickles, who announced the Young Journalist of the Year winner, praised O2 for supporting and highlighting the work of the regional press through the awards. “The local media is the lifeblood of our communities,” he told the 170-strong audience of journalists and guests.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Labour MP David Blunkett delivered messages of congratulations to former Yorkshire Post editor Peter Charlton. Charlton, who stepped down last month after 40 years in regional newspapers, received a standing ovation from his peers and an Outstanding Contribution Award for his services to the media.
Nicola Green, Director of Communications and Reputation at O2 UK, said the O2 awards, dubbed the Oscars of local journalism, were a barometer reflecting the evolution and developments within the regional press.
“It’s six years now since we launched the O2 awards. In that time we’ve seen the growth of specialist publications and also the huge steps that publishers and broadcasters have taken to use new media to reach new audiences. The development of new faster 4G communication networks, which O2 launched in Leeds and London last week, will accelerate that growth. But we must not forget that at the heart of every story is a local journalist. It’s their skill, to identify news and information that people want to hear or read, that makes the regional media such a valuable part of everyday life.”
For the first time the judges created a special award to mark a “terrific example of community journalism”. Selina Maycock and the Scunthorpe Telegraph were applauded for helping a terminally ill cancer sufferer realise his dying wish to marry his childhood sweetheart. Liam Thompson’s 21-year-old widow Alice presented the award.
O2 has already launched its North West Awards and the presentation evening will be held in November in Liverpool.
Here are the pictures from the night:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/o2ukofficial/sets/72157635400777329/
Winners:
New Media Journalist of the Year
Stuart Goulden – One&Other York
Runners Up
Graham Walker – Sheffield Star
Dave Doyle – Rotherham Advertiser
Feature Writer of the Year
Pheobe Jackson-Edwards – Hull Daily Mail
Runners Up
Rod McPhee – Yorkshire Post
Martin Smith – Sheffield Star
David Barnett – Bradford Telegraph & Argus
Photographers of the Year
Andy Garbutt – Bradford Telegraph & Argus
Stephen Garnett – Craven Herald
Runners Up
Frank Dwyer – The Press York
Tony Johnson – Yorkshire Post
Sports Journalist of the Year
Chris Dawkes – ITV Yorkshire Calendar
Runners Up
Tom Richmond – Yorkshire Post
Richard Fidler – Sheffield Star
Scott Wilson – Northern Echo
Specialist Publication of the Year
Bradford Telegraph and Argus (City at Wembley)
Runners Up
Northern Farmer
Singletrack Magazine
Yorkshire Post (Yorkshire County Cricket)
Radio Broadcast Journalist of the Year
Elly Fiorentini – BBC Radio York
Runners Up
Claire Warren – Radio Aire
James Vincent – BBC Radio Sheffield
Louise Jackson – BBC Radio Leeds
Television Broadcast Journalist of the Year
Charlotte Leeming – BBC Yorkshire Look North
Runners Up
Dan Johnson – BBC Yorkshire Look North
Duncan Wood – ITV Yorkshire Calendar
Young Journalist of the Year
Jim Coldwell – Hull Daily Mail
Runners Up
Jenna Thompson – Hull Daily Mail
Toby Higgins – Sheffield Star
News Reporter of the Year
Rob Waugh – Yorkshire Post
Runners Up
Dan Johnson – BBC Yorkshire Look North
Kevin Shoesmith – Hull Daily Mail
James Vincent – BBC Radio Sheffield
Business Journalist of the Year
Danni Hewson – BBC Look North
Runners Up
Paul Murphy – BBC Look North
Catherine Lea – Hull Daily Mail
Scoop of the Year
Dan Johnson, BBC Look North / Inside Out – Police collusion during miners’ strike
Runners Up
Kevin Shoesmith, Hull Daily Mail – Paedophile ring exposed
David Hirst, ITV Yorkshire Calendar – Ripper’s backing for Savile
James Vincent, BBC Radio Sheffield – Closure of Dom Valley Stadium
Selina Maycock – Scunthorpe Telegraph – Help me wed before I die
Judges’ Special Award
Selina Maycock – Scunthorpe Telegraph
Editorial Team of the Year
BBC Radio Sheffield
Runners Up
Bradford Telegraph and Argus
Hemsworth and South Elmsall Express and Pontefract and Castleford Express
Weekly Free Newspaper of the Year
Leeds Student Newspaper
Runners Up
Dearne Valley Weekender
Retford Guardian
Weekly Paid For Newspaper of the Year
Barnsley Chronicle
Runners Up
Whitby Gazette
Wakefield Express
Rotherham Advertiser
Daily Newspaper of the Year
Hull Daily Mail
Runners Up
Yorkshire Post
Sheffield Star
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