Southern Daily Echo reporter Ali Kefford has been hailed one of the best writers on the Royal Navy after winning the top national award for maritime journalism.

The paper’s chief feature writer and naval correspondent was presented with the Desmond Wettern Maritime Media Award by Countess Mountbatten of Burma.

The panel of judges said they were rewarding Ali for her “outstanding journalistic contribution in working closely with HMS Southampton to give a comprehensive and accurate picture of life on board a modern Royal Navy warship and its duties in the contemporary world, including the war against terrorism”.

The prize was presented at the 20th anniversary dinner of the Maritime Foundation, held at Fishmongers Hall – a sumptuous building on the banks of the River Thames which is home to one of the country’s oldest livery companies.The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers’ controlled the sale of fish in the capital for centuries.

Ali has been the Southampton-based paper’s naval correspondent for three years, following the every move of the city’s adopted warship HMS Southampton.

The 31-year-old has joined the Type-42 destroyer on deployment all over the world, including visits to Dubai, Bulgaria and the Falkland Islands.

Addressing 150 guests at the glittering dinner, attended by Lord Strathcona and First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Alan West KCB DSC, Ali said: “Of everything I saw of Operation Oracle in the Arabian Gulf what really bowled me over was the calibre of youngsters on board HMS Southampton.

“Ultimately, what the Southern Daily Echo has sought to do with its coverage is to tell it as it is – to give Hampshire a snapshot of what life on board a warship is really like.”