Plenty has been written and said about this year’s Press Awards –
but I would like to add my two cents’ worth. For five years I have been
proud to help judge and present the award in my late husband’s name,
but not any more.
When Geldof hopped unbidden onto the stage,
turned his back on me, ignored Andrew Marr, grabbed the mike and
spouted nothing but crude criticism, I knew someone had leaked.
The
awards are supposed to be kept secret until announced. So how did he
know it was The Sun “wot won it” with its Band Aid story?
The whole evening nowadays shows how rude, rowdy, rough, jealous, boorish, belligerent journalists can be.
Related
Where is the pride in their profession?
However,
I still have a belief in the future. A group of us – some, like me,
former journalists – have set up an annual Hugh Cudlipp Award for the
UK media student of the year in the hope of providing talented young
journalists with an appreciation of editorial integrity, pride in their
profession – and the fun that was ours.
The first award will be
presented in January 2006 to the student who most closely fulfils the
Cudlipp criteria – and it will be held in an environment more decorous
than the recent zoological garden.
Content from our partners
Jodi Cudlipp, former editor of women’s magazines
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