KM Group political editor shines at the Shepherd Neame Journalist of the Year awards
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by Trevor Sturgess
KM Group political editor Paul Francis has made the headlines
himself for notching up a unique treble in the Kent Journalist
of the Year Awards.
Paul was named Kent Journalist of the Year for the third time,
an accolade never before achieved in the contest’s 22-year
history.
At a presentation ceremony at Shepherd Neame’s visitor centre in
Faversham, Paul was also named Kent’s Best Newspaper Journalist of
the Year.
Judges
said Paul’s work was of national standard and praised his
integrity, bravery and passion for the area he serves.
It was a successful year for the KM Group, with Katie Alston,
from the Kentish Gazette, named WF Deedes Kent Young Journalist of
the Year, and Simon Tulett of the Gravesend Messenger highly
commended in the same category.
The Gravesend & Dartford Messenger won the Canterbury Jack
Campaign of the Year Award for its Everyone Counts campaign, which
raised £200,000 in two months to save the Ellenor Lions
Hospice.
KMG managing editor Ron Green, who worked for the Group for 30
years and recently took early retirement, received a Shepherd Neame
Lifetime Achievement Award. Ron, 62, twice edited the Kent
Messenger - voted weekly newspaper of the year in 2002 and 2003
during his editorship - and was editor of the former daily Kent
Today. He was described as “a first-rate journalist who writes like
a dream.”
Other winners included Daniel Keel from the News Shopper (Kent
Feature Journalist of the Year), Glenn Garrett of the Courier Media
Group (Spitfire Kent Sports Journalist of the Year), the BBC’s
Robin Gibson (Bishops Finger Kent Broadcast Journalist of the
Year). The News Shopper won the Shepherd Neame News Service of the
Year Award.
Jonathan Neame, chief executive of Shepherd Neame, said: “We
have been sponsoring these awards for more than 20 years and we’re
proud to be able to reward the achievements of Kent’s best
journalists and the valuable news service they provide the county.
It has been a tough time for media groups but we’re very encouraged
by the dedication and quality of the entries we received.”
The judging panel, chaired by broadcaster Barbara Sturgeon,
included Tim Luckhurst, professor of journalism at the University
of Kent and a former editor of The Scotsman; Kim Fletcher, former
editorial director of the Telegraph Group, Justin Allen, from the
sports desk of The Sun and the News of the World,
Monday, February 01 2010
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