Double triumph for SNP scoop as Sarah Vine wins fourth award at UK journalism’s Oscars
AS a dedicated reader, you already know the outstanding quality of the journalism that has made the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday Britain’s biggestselling newspapers.
With the best scoops, finest columnists, superlative features and unmissable supplements, it’s little wonder we have left our rivals trailing in our wake.
and now the excellence of that journalism has been recognised once more with a host of top honours at the Press awards – the Oscars of journalism.
Sweeping all before her was our allconquering columnist Sarah Vine. The must-read writer – who also sets the agenda with new talk show The Reaction, alongside fellow Mail columnist andrew Pierce – picked up the prestigious Tabloid Columnist of the Year award for a record fourth time in five years, a feat unprecedented in recent times in that or any other category.
Brave, mischievous and brilliantly clever, Vine’s winning submission showcased her exceptional range, touching on subjects as diverse as the Coronation; the parlous state of Britain; slimming drugs; and the threat of extremism following the Hamas terrorist attacks.
Heaping praise on her work, judges said her pieces ‘often trigger political and social debate’ and were ‘a masterclass in writing tabloid columns’.
The strength in depth of our unbeatable roster of columnists was underlined by the number of Mail writers shortlisted in the same category, including previous winner Jan Moir, andrew Neil, Jenni Murray and The Mail on Sunday’s Dan Hodges.
The Mail’s trailblazing podcast, The Trial Of Lucy Letby, picked up the award in the News Podcast of the Year category. already recognised by judges at the London Press Club, Liz Hull and Caroline Cheetham’s pioneering series was the first to follow a live jury trial as it progressed, winning widespread acclaim and highlighting the vital role court reporting plays in the pursuit of open justice.
Over 11 months and 64 episodes, the podcast registered a staggering 19 million downloads, shooting to the top of the apple and Spotify UK charts in four different countries when the verdict was announced.
Judges said The Trial podcast – now a major series into its fourth season – ‘brilliantly paired new technology with one of the oldest disciplines in journalism, court reporting’, perfectly illustrating ‘how traditional journalism can reach a whole new audience’.
The Mail’s utter dominance in feature writing guaranteed the paper a win in the Tabloid Feature Writer category after judges took the unprecedented step of awarding Mail journalists all six spots on the shortlist. The award went to courageous writer Ian Birrell for a series of colourful and insightful reports from the frontline in Ukraine.
Liz Hull was highly commended in the same category for her authoritative reporting of the Lucy Letby case. The other Mail feature writers shortlisted included Richard Pendlebury, Barbara Davies, antonia Hoyle and Sally Williams.
Georgia Edkins’s agendasetting scoop about the SNP ‘£100,000 motorhome’, complete with an exclusive picture of the vehicle being removed by police from outside the house of former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s mother-in-law, earned her the prestigious award for Political Journalist of the Year. The Scottish Mail on Sunday Political Editor’s exposé continues to send shockwaves through politics, with the news this week that Miss Sturgeon’s husband, Peter Murrell, has been charged with embezzling SNP funds. Judges praised Edkins’s ‘exemplary pavement-pounding dedication to getting her great scoop’ alongside her ability to ‘make Scottish politics easily relatable and dramatic’, adding that she wrote stories which resonate ‘outside the political bubble’.
The same story was highly commended in the coveted Scoop of the Year category.
The Mail on Sunday’s chilling front page on the day after the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel took the prestigious award for Tabloid Front Page of the Year.
The iconic shot captured the moment festival-goer Noa argamani was kidnapped on the back of a terrorist’s motorbike.
Judges heaped praise on the presentation, saying the ‘forceful splash captured the horrors of October 7 with a striking picture and a heart-rending headline’. They added that it was ‘the defining image of a terrible day, brilliantly captured by The Mail on Sunday’.
The excellence of the Mail’s sports coverage was recognised with a highly commended for Chief Sports Writer Oliver Holt in the Hugh McIlvanney Sports Journalist of the Year category.
The peerless writer’s powerful despatches exposed the hypocrisy and iniquity of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Judges said Holt was ‘not just one of the best sports journalists, but one of the best journalists in the business’.
Other Mail nominees in the category included Football Editor Ian Ladyman and senior rugby writer Nik Simon.
Reporter Sabrina Miller was Highly Commended in the Young Journalist of the Year category for her undercover investigation revealing an audacious plot by an extremist animal rights group to sabotage the Grand National.
Her revelations were credited with saving the famous race, and led to the arrest of 118 vegan activists when they attempted to break on to aintree’s racecourse.
Judges said it was ‘one of the biggest exposés of the year, saved the Grand National and captured the public imagination’, and that they ‘couldn’t wait to see what she does next’.
With so many nominations and a host of top awards, it’s no surprise that the Mail’s journalism – whether in print, podcasts or online – remains Britain’s number one.
‘Her columns trigger debate’