Organised by the Society of Editors, the prize was awarded for what the judges described as a ‘seismic year’ for the paper which saw it surpass 900,000 subscribers and invest in quality online and print journalism.
They said: “The Financial Times had an outstanding year and it continues to be an authoritative and global must-read. The paper’s strikingly successful business model is underpinned by high quality journalism - a great feat of management and organisation as well as editorial excellence. From coverage of the Brexit negotiations to a stand out series on Europe, it continues to produce exceptional coverage both online and in print.”
The paper was also awarded the News Team of the Year for work by its reporters on its Europopulism series. The project was conducted over 12 months, included five countries and analysed the rise of populism in Europe. Other accolades for the FT included the Business and Finance Journalist Award to Matt Garrahan and Environment Journalist of the Year to reporter Pilita Clark.
The event, held at the London Hilton on Park Lane and attended by some 500 guests, also saw The Guardian awarded a number of prizes. Political Commentator of the Year was awarded to reporter John Harris, Foreign Reporter of the Year to Emma Graham-Harrison, the Fashion Journalist of the Year Award to Jess Cartner-Morley and Sports Journalist of the Year Award to Martha Kelner. Two of the big awards in the broadsheet category also went to the paper with Interviewer of the Year awarded to Decca Aitkenhead and Feature Writer of the Year to Gary Younge.
The News Reporter of the Year, awarded to an individual for his or her work over the cause of the year was awarded to The Observer’s Mark Towsend. Townsend reported extensively during 2017 on Syria, police misconduct and the detention and deportation of homeless EU nationals living in the UK. The paper also saw reporter Carole Cadwalladr awarded the Specialist Journalist of the Year Award.
Other big winners on the night included The Times who took home Sports Team of the Year, Cartoonist of the Year for draughtsman Peter Brookes and Sports Photographer for Marc Aspland. Hugo Rifkind was awarded both Critic of the Year and the Best of Humour Award for a column focused on Jacob Rees-Mogg.
The Scoop of the Year was awarded to The Sunday Times for police revelations of pornography found on Damian Green’s computer. The paper also took home the Supplement of the Year for The Sunday Times Magazine, Columnist of the Year for Niall Ferguson and Travel Journalist of the Year for Martin Hemming. The Young Journalist of the Year was awarded to Gabriel Pogrund.
The evening also saw two prizes awarded posthumously to former Guardian Editor Peter Preston and the i’s Steve Connor. Preston was awarded the Journalists’ Charity Award for his outstanding contribution to journalists and journalism and Connor was awarded the Science Journalist of the Year Award for his work on genetically modified embryos.
The judges said that Connor’s work was the latest in a long series of scoops on the subject.
They added: “Steve Connor was uniquely talented at finding scoops and at turning complex science into brilliantly written stories. His death is a huge loss for science journalism and, if there were a lifetime achievement award in this category, the judges said that he would have won it.”
The Front Page of the Year was awarded to the Daily Mail for its cover depicting a burning Grenfell Tower alongside the headline ‘How the hell could it happen?’ The paper also took home the Cudlipp Award – Campaign of the Year for its successful work on turning the tide on plastic.
Society of Editors executive director Ian Murray commented: “For those who attack the press for what they do this should have been a sobering night. On parade was a seemingly endless stream of talent reminding us not only that the UK media remains the best in the world but it does its job to ever-increasing high standards.”
The winners:
YOUNG JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Gabriel Pogrund, The Sunday Times
Highly commended: Eleanor Steafel, The Daily Telegraph
BUSINESS AND FINANCE JOURNALIST
Sponsored by EY
Matt Garrahan, Financial Times
Highly commended: Tom Burgis, Financial Times
POLITICAL JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Simon Walters, The Mail on Sunday
Highly commended: Kate McCann, The Daily Telegraph
POLITICAL COMMENTATOR OF THE YEAR
John Harris, The Guardian
Highly commended: Stephen Bush, I and New Statesman and Marina Hyde, The Guardian
FOREIGN REPORTER OF THE YEAR
Emma Graham-Harrison, The Guardian and The Observer
Highly commended: Kim Sengupta, The Independent
SCIENCE JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Wellcome Trust
Steve Connor, i
Highly commended: David Crow, Financial Times
HEALTH JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Andrew Gregory, Daily Mirror
Highly commended: Laura Donnelly, The Daily Telegraph
FASHION JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Jess Cartner-Morley, The Guardian
Highly commended: Anna Murphy, The Times
ENVIRONMENT JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Pilita Clark, Financial Times
TRAVEL JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Normandy and Atout France
Martin Hemming, The Sunday Times
Highly commended: John Arlidge, The Sunday Times and Chris Leadbeater, The Daily Telegraph
SPECIALIST JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by JTI
Carole Cadwalladr, The Observer
SHOWBIZ REPORTER OF THE YEAR
Dan Wootton, The Sun
Highly commended: Chrissy Iley, The Sunday Times and Gary O’Shea, The Sun on Sunday
SPORTS JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Martha Kelner, The Guardian
Highly commended: Daniel Taylor, The Guardian
INTERVIEWER OF THE YEAR - POP
Charlotte Edwardes, London Evening Standard
Highly commended: Craig McLean, London Evening Standard and Cole Moreton, The Mail on Sunday
INTERVIEWER OF THE YEAR - BROADSHEET
Decca Aitkenhead, The Guardian
Highly commended: Emma Brockes, The Guardian
COLUMNIST OF THE YEAR - POP
Alison Phillips, Daily Mirror
Highly commended: Oliver Holt, The Mail on Sunday
COLUMNIST OF THE YEAR - BROADSHEET
Niall Ferguson, The Sunday Times
Highly commended: Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, i
FEATURE WRITER OF THE YEAR - POP
Brian Reade, Daily Mirror
Highly commended: Ian Birrell, The Mail on Sunday
FEATURE WRITER OF THE YEAR - BROADSHEET
Gary Younge, The Guardian
Highly commended: Christina Lamb, The Sunday Times
CRITIC OF THE YEAR
Hugo Rifkind, The Times
Highly commended: Rowan Moore, The Observer
BEST OF HUMOUR AWARD
Our week – Jacob Rees Mogg, Hugo Rifkind, The Times
Highly commended: Lady bosses, Giles Coren, The Times
PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Stefan Rousseau, Press Association
Highly commended: Jeremy Selwyn, London Evening Standard
SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Marc Aspland, The Times
Highly commended: Richard Pelham, The Sun
CARTOONIST OF THE YEAR
Peter Brookes, The Times
Highly commended: Morten Morland, The Times and The Sunday Times
GEORGINA HENRY AWARD FOR DIGITAL INNOVATION
Sponsored by Wiggin
Jem Collins, Journo Resources
Highly commended: Maeve McClenaghan, Tip Off
JOURNALISTS’ CHARITY AWARD
Sponsored by Cision
Peter Preston, former editor of The Guardian
SCOOP OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Cision
Police: We found porn on deputy PM’s computers, Tom Harper, Jon Ungoed-Thomas, Richard Kerbaj, The Sunday Times
Highly commended: Ant in Drug Rehab, Gary O’Shea and Patrick Gysin, The Sun on Sunday and No 10 covered up Trident missile fiasco, The Sunday Times
NEWS REPORTER OF THE YEAR
Mark Townsend, The Observer
Highly commended: Harry Cole, The Sun
SUPPLEMENT OF THE YEAR
The Sunday Times Magazine
Highly commended: Culture, The Sunday Times
FRONT PAGE OF THE YEAR
How the hell could it happen? Daily Mail
Highly commended: Assault on Westminster, The Times
THE CUDLIPP AWARD – CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR
Supported by the British Journalism Review
Turn the Tide on Plastic campaign, Daily Mail
Highly commended: Google and Facebook, The Times
NEWS TEAM OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by United Utilities
The Europopulists, Financial Times
Highly commended: Facebook and Google, The Times
SPORTS TEAM OF THE YEAR
The Times
Highly commended: Daily Mail
NEWS WEBSITE OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Google
Buzzfeed UK
Highly commended: Guardian
NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR
Financial Times
Highly commended: The Times
