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Journal reporter wins cash for equine writing

A Newmarket Journal reporter has scooped the runner-up prize in an annual competition to celebrate equestrianism.

Francesca Bardsley’s piece Fell in love with a horse won her £750 as runner-up in the Under 26 category of the Martin Wills Memorial Trust awards.

The Under 26 winner was 17-year old Stefan Djukic from London, a pupil at St Paul’s School, London. He receives £1,250 for his article, Cash Flow, about how abundant winnings cause embarrassment for one generation, pride for the next.

The Under 19s competition was been won by 17-year old Joanna Hubbard from Ashurst Wood, West Sussex, a pupil at Marlborough College, Wiltshire, who receives £500 for her article, Lost at the races.

The 13th annual Martin Wills Memorial Trust awards attracted the third highest ever number of entries, with 63 senior and 52 junior.

The judges were: Brough Scott, editorial director of the Racing Post, sports feature writer of The Sunday Telegraph and for 30 years chief presenter of Channel 4 Racing (chairman); Rachael English, a radio current affairs journalist who presents the “Five-Seven Live” programme on RTE; J. A. McGrath, Hotspur of The Daily Telegraph and senior racing commentator of the BBC; Jon Ryan, Sports Editor of The Sunday Telegraph; and Catherine Wills, art historian sister of Martin Wills.

Brough Scott said: “13 years on, it was particularly good to have some really original entries, most especially the winning one. Stefan Djukic’s piece was direct, surprising, clever, amusing and excellently written. Encouraging that sort of standard is exactly what these awards are all about.”

The Martin Wills Memorial Trust Awards commemorate Martin Wills, an amateur jockey, point-to-point rider, racing enthusiast and journalist who died in April 1992, aged 39.