Part 2 of our fabulous awards shortlist
Part 2 of our fabulous awards shortlist
Take a closer look at the entries our judges are considering
In last week’s newsletter we shared some of the entries for the shortlisted Freelance Journalism Awards in the categories of broadcast, print, news story and feature. We felt it was really important to do this to showcase the amazing, creative, thoughtful, in-depth and dogged reporting done by our fantastic community of freelance journalists.
But there was so much to get through, Substack wouldn’t let us put it all in one newsletter, so here we are again with part 2, looking at the work submitted in our specialist journalist, investigation and early career/student categories. Enjoy!
Best specialist journalist
Time to celebrate those with a niche beat in this category sponsored by 5WH. Charlotte Vowden and her passion for motoring journalism in a male dominated world can be seen in these pieces on life lessons, turning classic cars into handcrafted jewellery and meeting the curator at a classic car museum. Meanwhile Hannah Summers’ specialist reporting on the family courts includes this piece on 66 children vanishing from an asylum hotel.
Grace Holliday reports on pregnancy and parenting with pieces ranging from sleep deprivation and suicidal thoughts, being cared for after birth in a pressured NHS and birth stories from Black women around the world. Rachael Healy is a freelance arts journalist focusing on comedy looking at class based inequality and sexual harassment in the industry as well as the comics tackling mental health issues on stage.
Specialist health journalist David Cox submitted a long read on problems with the vast majority of genetic data stored in biobanks coming from white Europeans, the disappearing of Covid-19 from public discourse and the fall of Roe v Wade and the knock on implications for data privacy. Anna Turns’ solutions focused environmental journalism includes a UK porpoise autopsy done to work out what is killing them, what ants mean for the planet and a rare glimpse inside Britain’s secret vault of whale skeletons.
Arts and culture journalist Precious Adesina explores socio-political issues as seen in her work on an updated show of black portraits, visual activism about queer life in South Africa, and an historical look at why 1960 was a turning point for Africa. Also shortlisted is court reporter Charlie Moloney who broke stories on the Queen's Olympic skydiving stunt double facing jail for attacking his girlfriend, a law student who took on a former employer and the son of a police sergeant who was spared jail for the third time after drug driving.
Freelance celebrity journalist Nick McGrath interviewed 134 celebrities in the past year including Nancy Sinatra, Michael Rosen who shared his 50:50 chance of survival after Covid, and Johnny Rotten who did not hold back. Peter Yeung on the other hand reports on some of the world’s most vulnerable people with articles covering air pollution in Dhaka, migrants dying along the Mexico-US border and sickness and exploitation among workers in Indonesia.
Best investigation
Sponsored by Journalism.co.uk, our judges are considering Katharine Quarmby who entered her work on segregation and bleak living conditions of Traveller sites who are amongst the most marginalised communities in the UK. Lucy Osborne who you may remember was also shortlisted in the broadcast journalist category did a four year investigation for the Guardian into the fashion industry (see podcast here) which was also made into a Sky documentary ‘Scouting for Girls: Fashion’s Darkest Secret’.
Eve Livingstone noted that investigations can be particularly challenging for freelancers given the time and resources they take but good sources can really pay off. She entered her work looking into a faulty GPS system that saw delivery drivers unfairly sacked for the technology's mistakes. Liz Perkins uncovered sexism and misogyny in the Welsh Rugby Union, originally in the Daily Mail and then in the Daily Telegraph, which led to a historic vote from member clubs who overwhelmingly backed major governance reforms.
Jen Stout was shortlisted for her investigation into deportation of Ukrainians into Russia in the Kharkiv region. Her careful interviews with survivors were subsequently translated into Ukrainian by a human rights group. Oliver Murphy entered his investigation which combined FOI data from all UK gender identify clinics plus interviews with trans adults who had been forced to wait years to receive care.
Best piece of work by a student or early career journalist
And last but certainly not least, our category celebrating those at the start of their freelance careers is sponsored by The Media Mentor. Here we have Phillippa Kelly who submitted her article on ‘100 centenarians’ 100 tips for a life well lived’ that was published in the Guardian’s Saturday Magazine. Rich Matousek was shortlisted for his piece on the severe housing crisis in Lisbon for which he interviewed landlords, tenants and academics and activists.
Mauricio Alencar entered his piece for The Athletic on 'How Brazil's far right "kidnapped" the most famous shirt in football’ that he wrote while spending two months in the country. Lara Olszowska made it on to the shortlist for her piece interviewing Ukrainian teachers which involved meticulous translation and a sensitive approach.
Noah Anthony Enahoro has just entered his second year of being a freelance journalist after graduating from Goldsmiths, University of London. He entered his Guardian piece on the Benin bronzes at the centre of repatriation debates. Olly Haynes studied French and politics and often finds himself writing about these topics. His shortlisted entry was a piece covering the March general strike for which he travelled to France and took some striking photographs.
Cicely Norman entered her podcast documentary about the 2023 Oxford vs Cambridge boat race which involved gathering content over the space of four months and included interviews with a world champion. Freya Graham focuses on solutions journalism particularly around the environment and climate change as can be seen in her article for Business Insider on solar sharing helping Japanese farmers.
Triumph of the week
Having a week off!
That feeling when
The press office get back to you with the key information you need at the last minute.
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!
