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The political correspondent of the Belfast Telegraph has won one of Ireland’s most prestigious awards.

Chris Thornton’s prize is for the promotion of peace and reconciliation in Ireland.

He has worked with Independent writer David McKittrick on a monumental book Lost Lives, which records the stories of each of more than 3,600 victims of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

The pair have been jointly awarded the 16th Christopher Ewart-Biggs Literary Prize, worth £5,000, along with co-authors Seamus Kelters and Brian Feeney.

The award commemorates Christopher Ewart-Biggs, the British ambassador who was killed by an IRA bomb in Dublin in 1976.

David McKittrick, who previously won the award in 1989, said: “We’re really pleased. It’s a very prestigious and sought-after prize.

“It is particularly fitting that a prize designed to commemorate one individual should have been given to a book which is designed to commemorate all the people who have died in the troubles.”

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