Western Daily Press features editor George Frew has died. He was 48.

The multi-award-winning journalist had been battling against lung cancer, and had penned two moving articles about his illness and how he was coping with it.

Less than two weeks ago he received what was to be his last award, when he was named Feature Writer of the Year at the UK Regional Press Awards.

Although too ill to travel to the ceremony himself, George’s partner Gloria accepted the the trophy on his behalf as judges paid a glowing tribute.

The judges said: “For his own sake he should know that he won the award for his brilliant writing and not because he is dying.”

They added: “This guy wasn’t rubbing his sleeve on the window to look in, he was on the inside of that window looking out at us, from his awful childhood to his now imminent death.

“This is the sort of man other entrants would like to interview and write about to win the award.”

Born in Scotland, George began his career in the west of the country, where he worked on various newspapers before freelancing for the Daily Record.

After a spell as features editor at the Chronicle and Echo in Northampton, he returned to Great Yarmouth, where he had previously worked as launch editor of the East Anglian Post, to become group editor of five weekly titles.

But he preferred writing to management, and so joined the Oxford Mail as a feature writer.

It was while at Oxford that George was named 1999 BT Feature Writer of the Year for the London and Northern Home Counties region, beating strong competition with a series of articles including an interview with David Blagdon who spent 24 years in jail for setting fire to a pair of curtains in an Oxford church.

In January 2002 George moved to Bristol to join the Western Daily Press and became features editor six months later.

Daily Press editor Terry Manners said: “George lived and breathed newspapers. He may be gone from our newsroom but he will live on in our hearts forever.”

And Chris Cowley, former Oxford Mail editor and current deputy editor of the Daily Press said: “George has a rare and vaulable talent. At times his writing could make you laugh out loud; at other times he could leave you choked with emotion.

“He was a writer people would buy the paper for just to read his articles.

“He is a great loss both as a colleague and as a friend.”

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