A closer look at our shortlist entries part 1!
A closer look at our shortlist entries part 1!
Check out the outstanding reporting in the Freelance Journalism Awards
Last week we announced our shortlist for the inaugural Freelance Journalism Awards 2023. There were some very excited reactions and we’re so so pleased with the response to the awards and how much you all share our enthusiasm for celebrating the amazing work that freelance journalists do every day.
While our judging panels are busy getting on with the incredibly difficult job of choosing a winner in each of our seven categories, we thought we would start to show you some of the work that made it to our shortlist so you could see for yourselves what they are up against. We will share some more with you next week!
Best broadcast journalist
This category (sponsored by Women in Journalism) included Lucy Osborne whose four year investigation for the Guardian into the fashion industry (see podcast here) was also made into a Sky documentary ‘Scouting for Girls: Fashion’s Darkest secret’. Meanwhile Anna Lawlor pitched, wrote and presented Radio 4 documentary Typical! - the surprising untold stories behind everyday statistics.
Lucinda Borrell worked as an investigative reporter/producer on Panorama (Disaster Trolls), Radio 4 (Stalked) and BBC Newsnight. While Bhavani Vadde entered a range of current affairs reporting for regional news across a variety of broadcasters including the BBC and ITV.
Laura Price was shortlisted for her independent podcast, Life in Food on food and one other thing including cancer, fertility, fashion and war. While here is the showreel of Ellie Phillips, freelance presenter and showbiz journalist who can be seen on Good Morning Britain, Times Radio, 5 News and BBC News among others.
Best print journalist
Sponsored by the National Union of Journalists, here we have Gabriella Jozwiak who turned her experience writing about disadvantaged children into covering the impact of the Ukraine war, including how the youngest children are adapting, preparing to get back to school and those caring for them. Tasnim Nasir was one of the last foreign freelance reporters to interview Kazakh singer Zharnagul Zhumatai who was under house arrest in China. She also submitted a piece on Uyghur families search to find out what happened to missing relatives and how the cost of living crisis is impacting Muslim women in Britain.
Miranda Bryant spent five months visiting a food bank to tell the human stories behind the cost of living crisis for the Guardian. She also reported on the election of a far-right group with neo-Nazi roots in Sweden and did an interview with two Ukrainian journalists living under Russian occupation and their escape to Britain. Science and technology journalist Chris Baraniuk was shortlisted for his pieces on heat pumps, how to rescue the world’s biggest cargo ships and uncovering secrets from the last ice age.
Amelia Tait said she always gets a thrill from her name in print. Her eclectic submissions include articles about the family vloggers now coming of age, novelty bubble bath toys and how our public space is being lost to private avarice. Will Coldwell submitted his viral articles on the men paying to have their jaws broken, a ‘mind-bending’ NFT art mystery that took him from Amsterdam to Saudi Arabia and what we can learn about catching criminals from a forensic artist.
British foreign correspondent Liz Cookman submitted pieces from her coverage of the war in Ukraine including uncovering of a mass grave and the return home of a few of the thousands of Ukrainian children taken to Russia. Andrew Kersley who has been freelance since the beginning of his career submitted some of his most ambitious reporting including unbearable conditions in a housing block in East London and funding cuts hampering clean up efforts by the Environment Agency.
Hannah Summers submissions included parental alienation experts in family courts, racism in maternity care in the NHS, and how vulnerable women in refuges were having confidential addresses disclosed in court papers. Suzanne Baum said her goal as a print journalist is to share authentic and honest stories, including the pain of losing a best friend in tragic circumstances, reporting on the search for Nicola Bulley, and her father’s mission to treat breast cancer after watching his mum die from it.
Best news story
Sponsored by News Associates in this category we have Donna Ferguson with her exclusive piece on a new discovery made on a 1300-year-old historical text. Andrew Kersley with his data analysis showing that one in 100 police officers faced a criminal charge last year. Charlie Moloney uncovered how migrant whistleblowers exploited by unscrupulous employers were being outed by the Government.
Miranda Bryant was shortlisted for her investigation of a suspected scarlet fever outbreak on a cruise ship hosting Ukrainian refugees. Hannah Smith submitted her reporting on how Barclays were locking small business customers out of their own accounts. While Rachael Healy exclusively revealed that Britain’s Got Talent judge David Walliams made derogatory and sexually explicit comments about contestants during filming.
Best feature
The most entered category by far was sponsored by LIGHTBULB Entrepreneur & Press Hangout. The shortlist includes Liz Cookman for her piece on the inside story of the siege of Azovstal and Sean McManus with his feature on how better web design can cut carbon emissions. Amelia Tait cast her unique eye over excessive home organisation.
David Cox was shortlisted for his article on the reality behind the sales pitch of personalised vitamins and Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff impressed with her piece on why Black girls aren’t safe in school. Chloe Hamilton entered a moving article on having a baby as her twin sister miscarried.
On the arts front, Jeremy Blackmore’s feature on a mythical collection of 2,000 lost recordings from some of the biggest names in music was shortlisted along with Norman Miller with his tale of how do museums manage decaying masterpieces.
Triumph of the week
Money going into the bank account. That’s it.
That feeling when
You submit a piece the editor needed urgently but then they don’t look at it for weeks….
We love to hear your feedback on everything we do, so feel free to drop us an email anytime at freelancingforjournalists@gmail.com
Bye for now!
