Yellow Advertiser trainee reporter Jon Austin has been named the 2004 Shepherd Neame Essex Journalist of the Year.
The judges praised Austin’s string of exclusives, which included an exposé of two cases of Legionnaire’s disease – one fatal – that a local hospital had not made public. He was also a runner-up in the Campaign of the Year category.
Roger Watkins, editor of the Brentwood Gazette, won the Essex Campaign of the Year title for his successful Stop the Sex Shop crusade, which urged readers to write to the local council protesting against a proposed sex shop in the town.
Other major winners in the Shepherd Neame awards, made at a presentation lunch in Little Baddow, near Chelmsford, were Donovan Blake, sports reporter with Anglia Television News, who walked off with the Spitfire Sports Journalist of the Year accolade, and Basildon Evening Echo political reporter Lea Fountain, who is now the 2004 Essex Young Journalist of the Year.
The judges were Daily Mail diarist Richard Kay, Sunday Mirror chief sports writer Anthony Clavane, and Bill Rogers, managing editor of BBC Radio News.
Below is the full list of winners and runners-up:
ESSEX JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Jon Austin
Yellow Advertiser
Winner
Grant Sherlock
Ilford Recorder
Highly Commended
Gary Pearson
Basildon Evening Echo
Highly Commended
Josie Stephenson
Brentwood Gazette
Specially Commended
Kerry Sheehan
Yellow Advertiser
Commended
ESSEX CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR
Roger Watkins
Brentwood Gazette
Winner
Jon Austin & Steve Neale
Yellow Advertiser
Highly Commended
Anne Fitzgerald
Essex Chronicle
Highly Commended
ESSEX YOUNG JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Lea Fountain
Basildon Evening Echo
Winner
Kate Batson
Evening Echo
Highly Commended
Ross Hindley
Romford Recorder
Highly Commended
Spitfire ESSEX Sports Journalist of the Year
Donovan Blake
Anglia News
Winner
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