The Yorkshire Post and its sister titles swept the board at last night’s annual awards for Johnston Press titles and staff by winning four of the top prizes.
In the year that saw the Tour de France come to Yorkshire, the Post was named daily title of the year and editorial team of the year in the ceremony held at Oulton Hall near Leeds.
The paper also won the prize for campaign of the year for its much-lauded bid to highlight the ‘hidden epidemic’ of loneliness on its patch.
And the Yorkshire publishing unit, which also includes the Yorkshire Evening Post and a series of weekly titles, was named publishing unit of the year.
Ashley Highfield presents the Title of the Year Daily to Yorkshire Post
Other awards saw the daily journalist of the year prize go to Chris Burn of The Star, Sheffield, while the Mansfield Chad’s Andy Done-Johnson was named weekly journalist of the year.
The full list of winners was as follows:
Title of the Year Daily: Yorkshire Post
Title of the Year Small Weekly: Lytham St Annes Express
Title of the Year Large Weekly: Harrogate Advertiser
Publishing Unit of the Year: Yorkshire
Best Publishing Unit Sales Team: West Yorkshire
Chief Executive’s Award: Carol Derbyshire and Karen Waggot
Brand of the Year: Digital Kitbag
Editorial Team of the Year: The Yorkshire Post
Journalist of the Year Daily: Chris Burn, The Star, Sheffield
Journalist of the Year Weekly: Andy Done-Johnson, Mansfield Chad
Trainee Journalist of the Year: Oliver Poole, Worthing Herald
Sports Journalist of the Year: Chris Holt, The Star, Sheffield
Editorial Design of the Year: Kirstie Lorimer
Feature Writer of the Year: Aasma Day Lancashire Evening Post
Photograph of the Year: Steve Riding
Story of the Year: Text From The Grave, Verity Ward
Sales Team of the Year (Property): South Anglia
Sales Team of the Year (Motors): West Yorkshire
Sales Team of the Year (Jobs): Inbound Recruitment, Sheffield Media Sales Centre
Sales Team of the Year (Local Display & Features): JP South Display Teams/Yorkshire Retail
Best Sales Agent (Media Sales Centre): Ben Farina
Best Sales Manager / Team Leader: Susannah Shields
Best Supporting Role in the Business: Editorial Learning and Development
Commercial Creative Award: Creative Services (Preston)
Customer Service Award: Jackie Casey
Best Use of Video: The Star, Sheffield, Editorial Team
Best Use of Social Media: Edinburgh Evening News
Initiative of the Year: Reverse Publishing of Jobs/Mission Poppable – Media Sales Centre
Best Digital Kitbag Performance: Wayne Wassell, Digital Kitbag Sales Team, Leeds
Deal of the Year: Print Central Team
Best Tactical Sales Initiative: Northern Ireland Newspaper Sales Team
One Step Beyond Award: Meg Senior, John Fieldhouse, IT Services, Lee Whitworth
Collaboration Award: Apprentice Scheme – Media Sales Centre
Innovation Award: Reverse Publishing of Jobs
Community Engagement Award: Phil Hewitt, Chichester Observer
Campaign of the Year: Loneliness: The Hidden Epidemic – Yorkshire
Audience Engagement Award: Sunderland Echo
Sign up for our free daily email bulletin
Follow HTFP on Twitter
Got a story? Email the Editor at
At least the Commercial Creative Award went to a British centre. Does anyone know the criteria used to save the Preston, Carn, Portsmouth and Sunderland creative jobs, when those in Sheffield, Peterborough, Leeds and Edinburgh were outsourced?
Report this comment
I didn’t realise JP still employed this many people! Well done to all concerned.
Report this comment
Audience Engagement Award, joke.
Report this comment
judging by the appalling circ figures of every yorkshire title over the past decade, does anyone in the county still read a newspaper?
Report this comment
I see they have changed the red-eyed monster picture. well spotted.
Report this comment
One of these awards went to a hard-pressed hack who desperately cobbles together e mail press release quotes along the lines of Mr Blabber( I made this name up) said: ” The event will take place at 2.30 on Sunday March 15 2015.” Honestly. In copy. In quotes. Congratulations.
Report this comment
Campaign of the year: Loneliness (staff in Hartlepool, Sunderland).
Report this comment
Notice that last year’s Photographer of the Year award has been replaced by Photograph of the Year.
Thank goodness the judges awarded it to a decent pro snapper like Steve Riding and didn’t choose a reader contribution to make a point.
Report this comment
Many congratulations to former colleague Steve Riding richly deserved,watch out Steve take the management plaudits with a pinch of salt they really don’t care about anybody!
Report this comment
And hub of the year went to?
Report this comment
You reap what you sow! On the Sunderland Echo website, JP chief executive Ashley Highfield is wrongly captioned on a photograph at the above presentation. Bring back the sub-editors, Ash!
Report this comment
Please stop printing photos of Ashley Highfield. Every time you do so I have an uncontrollable urge to stick my boot through the computer monitor.
Report this comment
I didn’t dare enter this in case I won an award and couldn’t resist the temptation to whack Ashley with it.But I suppose I should have entered this year because I doubt there will be enough staff for them to have awards next year.
Report this comment
Congratulations to all winners. I gather Team Yorkshire will be getting significantly smaller in the near future, as yet more editorial job cuts were announced to YP/EP/Yorkshire staff last week.
Report this comment
Crikey, this is bitter stuff for an awards feature. Fortunately, I work for a highly profitable, properly focused outfit which knows which side the revenue bread is buttered – paper and ink. There’s plenty of hot air from the pointy-heads (what do they actually DO?) about the all-embracing, all-digital future, but at the moment even their salaries are paid by the creative efforts of newspaper boys and girls. Great to see an IT wallah getting a gong in these awards, though.
Report this comment