The British Press Awards is an annual ceremony that has celebrated the best of British journalism since the 1970s. A financially lucrative part of the Press Gazette's business,[1] they have been described as "the Oscars of British journalism", or less flatteringly, "The Hackademy Awards".[2]

The British Press Awards 2006 were held at The Dorchester, Park Lane, London, on Monday 20 March 2006. Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow hosted the revamped ceremony with just 450 guests attending compared with more than 900 in previous years. There were 21 categories with a single overall sponsor rather than the 28 categories with individual sponsors of 2005.[3]

The judging process has two stages with Charles Wilson as Chairman of the Judges. The first stage chooses five entries (or six in case of a tie for fifth place) for the shortlists of each category and the second stage determines the winners. The Supplement of the Year, Cartoonist of the Year and Front Page of the Year categories are judged by independent panels of experts. Newspaper of the Year is now judged on an academy-style voting system. The judging forum comprises 80 senior staff journalists and a Grand Jury of 20 non-affiliated senior media executives representing each of the national newspaper groups.[4]

Controversy leading up to the 2006 awards

Soon after the 2005 awards, ten editors of major newspapers released a joint statement announcing their boycott because of the 'decline in conduct and prestige'. The statement read, "The editors of The Guardian, The Observer, The Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Telegraph, The Independent, the Independent on Sunday, the Daily Express, the Sunday Express, the Daily Mail, and the Mail on Sunday believe the organisation of these awards brings little credit to the industry or to the newspapers who win them".[5] The New York Times's London correspondent wrote, "last night's ceremony — a mind-numbing parade of awards in 28 categories — was not a mutually respectful celebration of the British newspaper industry fuelled by camaraderie and bonhomie. It was more like a soccer match attended by a club of misanthropic inebriates".[6] Piers Morgan, unhappy about losing the Hugh Cudlipp Award to The Sun, launched “The REAL Newspaper of the Year Awards”, inviting Mirror readers to phone in their choice.[2]

Still choosing to boycott the 2006 event were Associated Newspapers (part of Daily Mail and General Trust plc), Telegraph Group (part of Press Holdings Limited) and Express Newspapers (part of Northern & Shell). Their titles include The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday, the Daily Express and the Sunday Express, the Daily Star, the London Evening Standard and Metro, though the Express Group's boycott started when it was bought by Richard Desmond in 2000.[7]

One of the concerns is over the new owners of Press Gazette, the organisation behind the awards, Piers Morgan and Matthew Freud. The neutrality of Freud has been questioned given his marriage to Rupert Murdoch's daughter and his PR business's deals with News International.[8] However, to reconcile his critics, Matthew Freud has appointed a new Chairman of the Judges, Charles Wilson, and implemented changes to the judging process to promote transparency and fairness. Now there are only 21 awards, none of which are privately sponsored, and the ceremony is earlier in the evening so as to encourage sobriety. Simon Kelner, editor of The Independent, said that "a lot of the concerns I had with the organisation of the awards have been addressed. Anyway, there's not a viable alternative".[9]

Simon Lewis, corporate affairs director at Vodafone, the new sponsor, says, "We are delighted to be able to work with Press Gazette to celebrate the best of British journalism," despite the fact that his brother Will Lewis, deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph, is boycotting the awards.[10]

Category shortlists

The following lists the shortlists published February 26, 2006.[11]

(Winner in bold) (Blue numbered boxes to the right of the nominations contain external links to relevant web pages)

National Newspaper of the Year

Reporter of the Year

Foreign Reporter of the Year

Scoop of the Year

Columnist of the Year

Political Journalist of the Year

Feature Writer of the Year

Interviewer of the Year

Specialist Writer of the Year

Critic of the Year

Sports Journalist of the Year

Young Journalist of the Year

Team of the Year

Business & Finance Journalist of the Year

Supplement of the Year

Front Page of the Year

Photographer of the Year

Sports Photographer of the Year

Cartoonist of the Year

Showbusiness Writer of the Year

The Hugh Cudlipp Award

The following shortlist for the Cudlipp Award was later.[33]

References

  1. ↑ Martinson, Jane (2005-06-10). "And the Press Gazette title goes to ... Piers Morgan". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  2. 1 2 A matter of honours, Editorial - British Journalism Review Vol. 16, No. 1, 2005
  3. ↑ Jon Snow to host all-new British Press Awards - Press Gazette, 2 March 2006
  4. ↑ Journalism news and jobs for journalists - Press Gazette Archived February 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ Geldof triggers boycott of British Press Awards Archived April 3, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ Many approaches to the same issue. - By Sarah Lyall - Slate Magazine Archived September 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ And the losers are… journalists and the industry - Press Gazette, 26 January 2006
  8. ↑ Big titles boycott 'Morgan's organ' press awards - Telegraph Archived March 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ Greenslade, Roy (2006-01-24). "Big titles boycott 'Morgan's organ' press awards". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 2007-03-13. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  10. ↑ "March 6-10 2006". The Guardian. London. 2006-03-10. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  11. ↑ "NoW in running to defend Press Awards title". Press Gazette. February 26, 2006. Archived from the original on February 22, 2012.
  12. ↑ Robinson, James (2006-02-19). "Scoops spur Coulson on to a red-top renaissance". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  13. ↑ Luckhurst, Tim (2006-02-19). "How the 'Screws' screwed its rivals". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 2007-11-20. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  14. ↑ guardian.co.uk | Search | "Felicity Lawrence"
  15. ↑ guardian.co.uk | Search | "Ghaith Abdul-Ahad"
  16. ↑ guardian.co.uk | Search | Jonathan Watts
  17. ↑ Revealed: Blunkett broke rules on job with DNA firm - Independent on Sunday, 30 October 2005
  18. 1 2 "British Press Awards: Past winners".
  19. ↑ Exclusive: Charles and Camilla to Wed | Flickr - Photo Sharing! Archived March 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  20. ↑ We'Re Nominated For Scoop Of The Year - Mirror.Co.Uk
  21. ↑ http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D9CB82B4-64CE-446C-8386-D7EA0731DEB2.htm%5B%5D
  22. ↑ guardian.co.uk | Search | George Monbiot
  23. ↑ guardian.co.uk | Search | Andrew Rawnsley
  24. ↑ guardian.co.uk | Search | Adrian Levy
  25. ↑ guardian.co.uk | Search | Lynn Barber
  26. ↑ guardian.co.uk | Search | Emma Brockes
  27. ↑ guardian.co.uk | Search | Rachel Cooke
  28. 1 2 Steve Busfield (20 March 2006). "British Press Awards as they happened ..." The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-01-10.
  29. ↑ guardian.co.uk | Search | Charlie Brooker
  30. ↑ guardian.co.uk | Search | "Jamie Jackson"
  31. ↑ The Art Newspaper Archived February 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  32. ↑ guardian.co.uk | Search | Ian Griffiths
  33. ↑ "Jon Snow to host all-new British Press Awards". Press Gazette. March 3, 2006. Archived from the original on February 22, 2012.
  34. ↑ Mirror.co.uk
  35. ↑ Village Of Hope: A Year In Rwanda - Mirror.Co.Uk Archived February 19, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  36. ↑ Exclusive: Charles and Camilla to Wed sur Flickr : partage de photos ! Archived March 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  37. ↑ British man arrested for London bombings - War on Terror - Features - In Depth Archived April 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  38. ↑ "Bomb victims in payouts protest". BBC News. 2005-10-21. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  39. ↑ Fox, Urban (2005-11-03). "A city in black and white". The Times. London. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  40. ↑ Join The Stamp It Out Campaign Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  41. ↑ Murdoch's Sun gives PM 'one last chance' - World - theage.com.au Archived March 14, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  42. ↑ "Rebekah Wade: Profile". BBC News. 2003-01-13. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
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