Congratulations to the winners of the Media Freedom Awards 2023

Excellence in campaigning and investigative journalism was honoured at the Society of Editors’ Media Freedom Awards 2023 on Wednesday 8 November 2023. 

Held at the iconic Banking Hall in London, the high-profile awards, which set the benchmark for a celebration of UK public interest journalism, brought together more than 250 journalists from all sectors of the UK news media for a ceremony presented by ITV News’ Lucrezia Millarini and attended by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lucy Frazer MP

Held in association with Grove Gallery with support from Camelot, Newsworks, Cision, the Google News Initiative and Vodafone,  a full list of winners appears below. High-resolution images of the event will be added to this page in due course. 

With thanks to our headline sponsor

With thanks to our additional sponsors

Individual Awards

Bob Satchwell Award

Winner: Gary Younge 

Judges' Special Award

Winner: Dame Esther Rantzen

Young Journalist of the Year National

Winner: Ashni Lakhani, BBC
Highly commended: Sabrina Miller, Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday

Young Journalist of the Year Regional

Winner: Dolly Carter, East Anglian Times and Ipswich Star
Highly commended: Lucy John, WalesOnline

Commentator of the Year

Winner: Marina Hyde, The Guardian
Highly commended: Camilla Long, The Sunday Times and Sonia Sodha, The Observer

Journalist of the Year National

Winner: Anna Isaac, The Guardian
Highly commended: Paul Morgan-Bentley, The Times and Gordon Rayner, The Daily Telegraph

Journalist of the Year Regional

Winner: Stephen Topping, Manchester Evening News
Highly commended: Charles Thomson, Islington Gazette, Newham Recorder and Romford Recorder 

Journalist of the Year - Broadcast

Presented by:

Winner: Piers Morgan, TalkTV
Highly commended: Stuart Ramsay, Sky News

Foreign Correspondent of the Year

Winner: Stuart Ramsay, Sky News
Highly commended: Christina Lamb, The Sunday Times

Political Journalist of the Year

Presented by:

Winner: Pippa Crerar, The Guardian
Highly commended: Gabriel Pogrund, The Sunday Times and John Stevens, The Mirror

Freelance Journalist of the Year

Winner: Joshua Baker, BBC
Highly commended: Tom Odula, BBC Africa Eye

Photo Journalist of the Year

Presented by:

Winner:
Simon Townsley, Telegraph Media Group
Highly commended: Alessio Mamo, The Guardian

Group Awards

Investigation of the Year - Broadcast National

Winner: Undercover Hospital: Patients at Risk, BBC Panorama
Highly commended: Stephen Lawrence, The Sixth Suspect, BBC News

Investigation of the Year - Broadcast Regional

Winner: Disclosure: The Great Ferries Scandal, BBC Scotland
Highly commended: SEND investigation, ITV News Anglia

Investigation of the Year - National

Presented by:

Winner: Lockdown Files, The Telegraph
Highly commended: Confederation of British Industry, The Guardian

Investigation of the Year - Regional

Winner: Taser Use, News & Star
Highly commended: Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, Manchester Evening News

Innovation Award

Winner: Westminster Accounts, Sky News with Tortoise Media
Highly commended: Lockdown Files, The Telegraph

Podcast of the Year

Presented by:

Winner:
Partygate: The Inside Story, ITV News
Highly commended: The Shamima Begum Story, BBC News Long Form Audio

Campaign of the Year - National

Presented by:

Winner: School Hunger, Evening Standard and The Independent
Highly commended: Clean it Up, The Times

Campaign of the Year - Regional

Presented by:

Winner: Awaab’s Law, Manchester Evening News
Highly commended: Knife Crime Taskforce, The Northern Echo

International News Media Organisation of the Year

Winner: Bellingcat
Highly commended: Investigate Europe

Regional News Media Organisation of the Year

Winner: Sunday Life
Highly commended: Liverpool Echo

National News Media Organisation of the Year

Presented by:

Winner:
The Telegraph
Highly commended: Times Media