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Judges decide to withhold Front Page award

The judging panel decided not to shortlist any entries in the Front Page of the Year category at this year’s EDF Energy London and the South of England Media Awards.

Entries in this category proved problematic for the judges, who felt the standard was not as high as had been seen and awarded in years gone by.

The judges commented that the entries “had a lack of originality” this year but, ironically, felt better front pages were seen in other category entries.

Some of these were from the same papers that have been shortlisted elsewhere, such as weekly print journalist of the year and daily newspaper of the year.

The panel also felt there needed to be more thought and priority given to this important class of award for future contests.

The Front Page category was judged by the three newspaper editors on the panel, Nigel Pickover, editor of the Evening Star, Ipswich, Steve Hall, editor of the Derby Telegraph, and Gary Phelps, group editor of Central Independent Newspapers.

Other members of the judging panel were Paul Delmar, head of the photojournalism course at Sheffield College, broadcaster and media trainer Karen Ainley, and EDF Energy’s South East regional media manager James Barber.