Award for Mail’s translator campaign

THE Daily Mail’s three-year battle to win sanctuary for Afghan interpreters has scooped the prestigious Campaign of the Year award at the British Journalism Awards.

Judges at the event, organised by Press Gazette, the journalists’ trade paper, honoured the work to help dozens of translators who were the ‘eyes and ears’ of British troops in Afghanistan but were later abandoned to their fate with the Taliban.

The Mail’s Betrayal of the Brave campaign – spearheaded by journalists David Williams and Larisa Brown – led the fight for them and their families to be brought to safety in the UK.

The judges said: ‘The campaign to provide sanctuary in Britain for Afghan interpreters was a classic example of the Daily Mail’s relentless campaigning strength.

‘When the Daily Mail believes in something it goes for it, and in this case it was also backed up with great journalism about a cause which is counter to what some people would expect of the paper.’

The campaign continues on behalf of those interpreters left in Afghanistan who have been shot at, issued with death threats and even executed on their doorsteps.

The Mail’s sister paper, The Mail on Sunday, also won two awards. Ian Birrell took the Popular Journalism prize for writing about a boy with epilepsy and medical cannabis law. Jeff Prestridge won the Business, Finance and Economics Journalism award.