Sunday Mirror up for major awards

THE Sunday Mirror has been nominated for a raft of awards including one for our exclusives, investigations and campaigns.

We are in the running to win Sunday Newspaper of the Year in the National Press Awards 2020.

Together with our sister titles the Daily Mirror and the Sunday People, and website mirror.co.uk, we have been shortlisted for an incredible 22 gongs.

Mark Steel is in the frame for Popular Columnist of the Year. And our team of reporters has led the way in holding the Government to account during the greatest peacetime crisis since this newspaper was founded.

Our May front page revelation that Dominic Cummings had twice broken his own Government’s lockdown rules led to his humiliating and insulting “Barnard Castle eye test” excuse.

We went on to expose a litany of government failings on Covid – among them PPE shortages, wards running out of drugs and patients terrified for their lives. But there were many other issues on which we fought for those without a voice. Investigations Editor Geraldine McKelvie exposed the plight of mums fleeing Britain to keep their children away from abusive ex-partners.

The inquiry was part of our campaign Save Kids From Violent Parents, which told how 63 such youngsters died during unsupervised contact.

The Government has vowed to change child contact laws, a victory for the paper that will save countless lives.

THE Queen today leads a call for unity in the Commonwealth – hours before Harry and Meghan’s TV interview is broadcast.

Her Majesty is joined by Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for A Celebration for Commonwealth Day – on BBC1 at 5pm.

In her annual message, the Queen hails the way in which the family of nations has come together in response to the pandemic.

Footage shows her in a blue two-piece suit, with a touching tribute to husband Prince Philip – the chrysanthemum sapphire brooch she first wore on honeymoon.

She also wore it on their 60th wedding anniversary – and their 73rd, last November.

The Commonwealth celebration is usually a full-blown affair at Westminster Abbey. Some of it will still come from there – with music and words from Prince Charles.

He says: “The pandemic has affected every country of the Commonwealth, cruelly robbing countless people of their lives and livelihoods, disrupting societies and denying human connections we so dearly cherish.

“Amidst such heartbreaking suffering, however, the extraordinary determination, courage and creativity with which people have responded has been an inspiration.”

The programme also shows William and Kate during a Zoom call. Talking to a doctor in South Africa, she says: “There’s been masses of recognition of the amazing work the front line do and it’s sad, almost, that it’s taken the pandemic for the public to really back and support all those on the front line.”