Mail scoops top honours at the newspaper Oscars
THE strength in depth of the Mail’s outstanding journalism has been recognised with a host of top honours at the Press Awards – the newspaper industry’s Oscars.
Leading the way once again was the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday’s peerless Sarah Vine, who bagged the prestigious Columnist of the Year (Tabloid) title for the third time in only four years.
Describing her as a ‘great writer who totally gets her readers’, judges heaped praise on her column, which they said was ‘by far the strongest’ and written with ‘verve and heart’.
The Mail’s Isaan Khan capped a remarkable week by beating a brilliant field to take the much-prized Hugh McIlvanney Award for Sports Journalist of the Year.
Incredibly, it was his third award in as many days – Khan had already bagged the GG2 Young Achiever Award and the Sports Journalists’ Association’s Ian Wooldridge Award earlier in the week.
Describing his entry as ‘an absolute triumph’, judges praised his undercover exposé of security failures at Wembley Stadium as a ‘ magnificent example of good old-fashioned journalism’ which ‘led to meaningful change’. Khan was also highly commended in the Young Journalist of the Year category for his ‘very strong exclusives’ and ‘in-depth interviews’.
The Mail’s Katie Hind triumphed in the fiercely competitive Showbiz Reporter of the Year category.
Her scoop on David Beckham’s £10million Qatar deal was just one example of what judges hailed as a ‘year of cracking exclusives written with warmth and wit’.
The Mail’s six-week undercover investigation into the dangers of smart motorways – described as ‘impossible to ignore’ – took Campaign of the Year.
In the Feature Writer of the Year (Tabloid) category Sian Boyle’s ‘in- depth investigations’ and ‘startling stories’ triumphed over a strong field including the Mail’s Ian Birrell, who was highly commended in the same category.
A ‘beautifully written’ world-beating interview with Lady Brittan helped secure a highly commended spot for Stephen Wright in Interviewer of the Year (Tabloid) – a category dominated by Mail writers.