The Society of Editors prestigious Media Freedom Awards, launched last year in celebration of excellence in campaigning and public interest journalism across all platforms, will return in 2023 and will remain free to enter, it has been announced.
The high-profile awards, attended last year by the Secretary of State for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, will open for entries on 1 June 2023 with the ceremony taking place at the iconic Banking Hall in London on 8 November 2023. A full list of categories and guidance for entries will be published in due course at www.societyofeditors.org.
Announcing the return of the awards, Dawn Alford, Executive Director of the Society said: “Following the undisputed success of last year’s inaugural Media Freedom Awards, we have no doubt that the awards will, once again, prove to be a key highlight of the news media industry calendar for 2023.
“In planning this year’s awards, the Society recognises that budgets remain stretched so, in accordance with last year, the awards will remain entirely free to enter. Cost of entry should be no barrier to recognising and celebrating the exceptional standard of journalism in the UK and beyond and the courage, bravery and dedication of journalists that report, day-in-day-out on behalf of the public. We will also endeavour to ensure that costs for the event in November are kept at an absolute minimum to ensure that nobody is priced out of attendance.
“We encourage all platforms and journalists who are proud of their work to submit entries once the awards open and we look forward to celebrating the breadth and diversity of voices from the UK and beyond, later this year.”
The Society’s inaugural Media Freedom Awards were held last year on 15 November 2022 at the prestigious Globe Theatre in London and saw the Daily Mirror crowned the News Media Organisation of the Year while open-source platform Bellingcat was named the International News Media Organisation of the Year. The evening also saw PA Media presented with the Judges’ Media Freedom Award by the Culture Secretary for its championing of open justice through cameras in court on behalf of the wider news industry.
Other winners included The Portsmouth News, Sunday Life and the BBC’s Panorama.
The Media Freedom Awards are open to journalism produced across all platforms including national, regional, international, online and broadcast media. Last year’s event was sponsored by WeShop, Camelot, the Google News Initiative and Newsworks.
Photos and video from last year’s event can be found on the Society’s website here.
To enquire about sponsorship opportunities please email office@societyofeditors.org.
