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Magazine prize for former regional reporter

A former regional reporter who has worked abroad for the last 20 years has won a prestigious editorial award.

Chris Bishop, left, who is originally from Hartlebury, near Worcester, won the South Africa magazine editor of the year award presented in Johannesburg.

He has been working in Africa for the past 20 years and has been managing editor of Forbes Africa since the magazine was launched in October 2011.

Chris, who began his career with the Kidderminster Shuttle and also worked for the Stourbridge News and Dudley News, emigrated to New Zealand in the 1980s where he was taken on by the Dominion and Sunday Times in Wellington.

During that time, he won the Sir David Beattie Award as reporter of the year for exposing a cover-up for an assassination attempt on the Queen.

On his return to the UK, he worked for the BBC Breakfast programme, covering the Canary Wharf bombings and the Windsor Castle fire.

He freelanced in Zimbabwe during the troubles and was once tear-gassed in a Harare demonstration. He was also attacked with stones by a mob in Zambia and was briefly arrested in Mozambique.

After a spell as news editor of SABC, he joined CNBC Television, which is associated with the Forbes Africa magazine, and he still fronts the occasional programme about the economy.