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March 17, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 2:41pm

News International red tops sweep the board at British Press Awards

By Press Gazette

By Dominic Ponsford
News International-owned tabloids swept the board
at the British Press Awards as the News of the World was named
Newspaper of the Year for the first time.
The NoW also picked up the prizes for Scoop of the Year and Young Reporter of the Year.
The Sun’s haul of five trophies also included the prizes for best reporter and front page.
The judging panel of regional, national and
broadcast editors is understood to have been unanimous in its decision
to give the top prize to the NoW recognising a prodigious run of scoops
for the paper in 2004. These included breaking news of sexual affairs
involving football manager Sven Goran Eriksson, Home Secretary David
Blunkett and footballer David Beckham – the last of which was
named scoop of the year.
NoW editor Andy Coulson said afterwards: “I’m
just really pleased for this lot [the staff] they’ve worked bloody
hard. Our job’s a pretty simple one, that’s to break great stories.
“I think we had a great spread of stories
– a great sports story with Sven, a great political story with
Blunkett and a good old-fashioned tabloid scoop with Beckham.”
Veteran Sun political editor Trevor Kavanagh was
named reporter of the year and his story “Hutton Report Leaked” was
named best front page.
He put the secret of his success down to “pure luck and enjoyment of
the job”.
He said: “I would have done this job for half the
money at any time except when I started on £4 a week. It’s a great job
to be in.
“Being a journalist is one the greatest things you could possibly do – I’m really pleased I failed to be a policeman.”
The Sun’s other three prizes were for cartoonist
of the year Bill Caldwell, financial journalist of the year Ian King
and the Hugh Cudlipp award for the paper’s Band Aid 20 campaign.
Editor Rebekah Wade said: “It’s a great night for
journalism and for good stories. The award I’m most pleased about is
for Hutton because it was a huge team effort and then Band Aid because
we’ve spent two years campaigning for Africa.”
Although the rival Daily Mirror picked up two
prizes: sports writer of the year Oliver Holt and news photographer of
the year Roger Allen – it had a much quieter night than its
arch-rivals at News International.
Editor Richard Wallace said: “It’s fair to say
that the Daily Mirror is going through a process of re-appraisal so we
weren’t expecting to win everything tonight. Obviously we will next
year.”
Overall the 28 prizes were split between 15 for
red-top or mid-market tabloids and 13 for the upmarket broadsheet and
compact papers.
Due to a production problem the British Press Awards supplement did not go out with this week’s edition of Press Gazette.
The full list of winners is

National Newspaper of the Year

News of the World
Scoop of the Year
News of the World, Beckham’s secret Affair
Front Page of the Year
The Sun – Hutton Report Leaked
Reporter of the Year
Trevor Kavanagh,The Sun
Financial Journalist of the Year
Ian King, The Sun
Hugh Cudlipp Award
The Sun, Band Aid
Business Journalist of the Year
Ian Griffiths, The Guardian
Columnist of the Year
Peter Hitchens, The Mail on Sunday
Show Business Reporter of the Year
Debbie Manley, The People
Sports Reporter of the Year
Jeff Powell, The Daily Mail
Feature Writer of the Year
A.A. Gill, The Sunday Times
Political Journalist of the Year
Simon Walters, The Mail on Sunday
Sports Photographer of the Year
Mark Pain, The Mail on Sunday
Feature Photographer of the Year
Richard Cannon, The Times
News Photographer of the Year
Roger Allen, Daily Mirror
Supplement of the Year
The Herald Magazine
Cartoonist of the Year
Bill Caldwell, The Sun
Team of the Year
Sunday Telegraph – Illegal abortions
Young Journalist of the Year
Ryan Sabey, News of the World
Foreign Reporter of the Year
Hala Jaber, The Sunday Times
Sports Writer of the Year
Oliver Holt, The Daily Mirror
Food And Drink Writer of the Year
Giles Coren, The Times
Motoring Writer of the Year
Jeremy Clarkson, The Sunday Times
Critic of the Year
Sukhdeu Sandhu, The Daily Telegraph
Property Writer of the Year
Christopher Middleton, The Daily Telegraph
Travel Writer of the Year
Tim Moore, The Observer
Interviewer of the Year
Robert Chalmers, The Independent on Sunday
Specialist Writer of the Year
Julie Henry, The Sunday Telegraph

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