A rookie reporter aged just 20 has pipped his editor to be crowned Editorial Person of the Year in his newspaper group.

Tom Jackson, pictured, of the Cambridgeshire Times, beat his boss John Elworthy to top prize in the annual Archant Herts and Cambs Awards.

Judges described Tom as “eager, confident, well rounded and articulate” and praised him for turning in an amazing array of stories.

“Tom is the absolute stand-out winner in this hotly-contested category,” they said.

“He is versatile and prolific and he embraces commercial and web activities with enthusiasm and skill. All editors would be proud to have Tom on their team.”

Earlier this year Tom was crowned Newcomer of the Year at the EDF Energy East of England Media Awards and in August became of the youngest journalists to pass his NCE exam.

John, who nominated Tom for the award, said: “He reminds me of myself at that tender age which is quite frightening and exciting.

“It was thoroughly deserved and everyone’s delighted, none more so than me.”

A host of editorial and commercial prizes are handed out across five Archant divisions with all the winners going through to the company-wide awards in January.

Herts and Cambs and Suffolk have already celebrated their winners with the London, South West and Norfolk divisions holding their own ceremonies within the coming weeks.

Other Herts and Cambs winners include myphotos24.co.uk which was named in the Innovation or New Launch of the Year category.

Myphotos24.co.uk is an outsourced website which allows photographers to upload images which have been used in the paper for sale to readers. The site, launched in July, was praised for creating revenue, efficiency and value from existing sources at no extra cost to the business. It has already generated more than £4,100.

Finally the Cambridgeshire Times/Wisbech Standard newsroom, pictured below, was named Team of the Year for being a “multi-skilled, integrated unit.”

Judges said: “This is a team which is prepared to try anything to enhance the brand – the front pages of the two titles are real sellers.”

Comments

Chris Bishop (01/12/2008 21:48:14)
Well done Tom for a richly deserved award.