The Times voted Newspaper of the Year
The premier awards for British journalism were handed out at a glittering ceremony at the Lancaster London Hotel last night.
The Times dominated the main accolades of the evening winning the coveted Newspaper of the Year Award while the paper’s investigative reporting into tax avoidance by big name stars was recognised in its Scoop of the Year, News Team of the Year and News Reporter of the Year honours.
Alexi Mostrous and Fay Schlesinger’s delve into complex schemes used by celebrities to shield their earnings from the taxman was described by the judges as “a cracking expose that had massive ramifications. Not only did it shock and anger the public it set the public agenda.”
The judges said that in a year of Jubilee coverage, The Times was at the top of its game with both print and online news, current affairs and features.
They added: “Offering impressive quality combined with superb scoops, columnists that are among the most well-known in the industry and increasingly innovative digital offerings, it is well on its way to silencing its pay wall critics.”
Its sister paper, The Sunday Times, took home the most awards of the evening winning five prizes in a year in which their chief sports reporter David Walsh’s 14-year investigation into Lance Armstrong and doping was finally vindicated.
The judges described 2012 for Walsh as: “the culmination of a great sports story. Not only did he stick to his guns, he left everyone else in his wake.”
Walsh took home the Sports Journalist of the Year award and was also recognised in their Sports Team of the Year accolade.
The Foreign Reporter of the Year award was delivered posthumously to Marie Colvin who was killed while reporting from Syria for The Sunday Times.
Her powerful report on the scale of suffering in Baba Amr in Syria was tragically her last piece but one the judges described as being “richly deserved of recognition in its own right.
“She was the foreign reporter who set the standard for others to follow. Her last dispatch, a brilliant piece of reportage, shows why she was so revered.”
The award was accepted by John Witherow, acting editor of The Times, who edited its sister paper for 18 years amid a standing ovation for the late reporter.
The Daily Mail took home three awards including Sports Photographer of the Year, Feature Writer of the Year for popular papers and The Best of Humour Award for columnist Craig Brown. Brown also continued his reign from last year in which he became the first person in the history of the awards to collect three prizes by also winning the Critic of the Year Award for his work in the The Mail on Sunday.
The international reach of the Mail Online was recognised by the top prize in the Digital Award in acknowledgement of “its willingness to tear up the formula when the story demanded it, with great use of images and video.”
The judges added “The large amount of original content makes it essential reading in the newsrooms of not just competitors, but on an international scale. A must-read, its sidebar of shame is a talking-point in its own right.”
The London Evening Standard won the award for Production and Design Team of the Year for going against the grain of free sheet papers in ensuring that free did not mean lacking in quality. It was praised for keeping evening papers alive and making a profit since it became a free newspaper. The Standard’s Nick Curtis also took home the award for Interviewer of the Year for popular papers.
The Sunday Telegraph won two awards including Specialist Journalist of the Year and Front Page of the Year for its ‘History Man’ image of Mo Farah winning the men’s 5,000m to claim his second Olympic Gold.
Satchwell, who is chairman of the judges, said “The awards are a true reflection of the brilliant journalism in UK national newspapers that are admired across the globe.
“The awards, rather than the Leveson report, provide the real evidence of the culture and practice of the British Press.”