This is the prize for the best story of the year (news providers can enter only one story for this award). The judges are looking for work which had an impact, brought new information to light and served the public interest. Please include a supporting statement of up 500 words. Work should have been published between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024 and aimed at a UK audience.
Scoop of the Year
The Times
Exposed: How British Gas Debt Agents Break into Homes of Vulnerable – The Times
The judges said: “This was the big scoop around one of the biggest stories of the year, the cost of living crisis. A big story that mattered to people and made a difference to the way things were done.”
Downing Street partied as Queen and country mourned death of Prince Philip
Telegraph
The judges said: “In a year when there were so many jaw-dropping revelations which was the revelation which, more than any other, caused our judges to choke on the cornflakes. It was the single story which probably did the most to change public opinion about the activities of the prime minister.”
The Telegraph’s Tony Diver and Ben Riley-Smith pick up the Scoop of the Year award at the British Journalism Awards 2022. Picture: ASV Photography Ltd for Press Gazette
The Sun
Hancock’s affair with aide
The judges said: “What’s not to like about a scoop that still sends shudders down the spine months later. One can never unsee this. The ‘we’re all in this together’ argument destroyed once and for all. And how.”
Sun’s Alex Goss, Harry Cole and Ben O’Driscoll pick up the Scoop of the Year prize from Jeremy Vine and Society of Editors executive director Dawn Alford at the British Journalism Awards 2021
Matthew Weaver – The Guardian | Pippa Crerar and Jeremy Armstrong – Daily Mirror
• Pressure on Dominic Cummings to quit over lockdown breach
• Dominic Cummings ignored coronavirus lockdown rules for SECOND time to visit parents
The judges said: “This was the must-read story of the pandemic and the one which made readers choke on their cornflakes.”
Anthony Loyd
The Times
• Bring me home: The Times finds former schoolgirl who fled to join Isis in Syrian refugee camp
Judges said: “This was standout world exclusive that everyone would have wanted. It was a story that was so big that everyone had to follow it and one that Antony Loyd had to go out and find, it didn’t come to him.”
