L to R: Davies, Unilever’s Helen Lo, Geoffrey Lean and Alistair McGown
The Independent on Sunday flexed its green credentials when it picked up the top prize at the British Environment and Media Awards.
Editor Tristan Davies collected the Newspaper of the Year Award – a prize the paper also won last year – with judges praising the range and depth of its environmental coverage, as well as its excellent use of pictures.
Michael McCarthy, environment editor on sister title The Independent, scooped the Environmental Journalist of the Year award. He was singled out for work that consistently made the front page. Judges described him as “quite brilliant”, with one of the panel, which included Country Living editor Susie Smith and Jane Morley, deputy head of news at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, admitting that his prose “made me cry”.
BBC Scotland news and current affairs won the prize for the best TV coverage, while Country Living scooped the best consumer magazine award.
Other winners were: Awareness Award: Ken Livingstone; Andrew Lees Memorial Award: Di McDonald; Best TV Documentary: BBC Four, Flooded Britain; Richard Keefe Memorial Award: BBC Four, Children of Rio; Best Environmental Website: ARKive; best radio feature or current affairs programme: BBC Radio Four, Wild Europe: Turkey’s Wild Snowdrops; Best Environment Campaign against the Incineration of Refuse: Ban Waste group Among the judges for the Unilever Award for Newspaper of the Year were Sandra MacLeod, chief executive of Echo Research, and Friends of the Earth director Neil Verlander.
The BEMAs were created to promote excellence in environmental reporting. Alistair McGowan hosted the awards ceremony.
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