The judging line-up has been confirmed with the deadline for the EDF Energy South West Media Awards looming.

There are only a few days to go until the deadline for entries so now’s the time to get your best work in the post. We’ll be judging them on Wednesday April 16 at the holdthefrontpage offices in Derby.

Society of Editors director Bob Satchwell, Northcliffe regional editorial director for the Midlands Malcolm Pheby, Hannah Walker, of the South London Press, and Grantham Journal editor Tim Robinson are among the judges.

Entries have to be in by the end of this week – so check which categories you could enter. You’ll need one form for each entry, to be countersigned by your editor.

People can submit work for as many categories as they wish in this free-to-enter competition but each must be accompanied by a separate entry form.

Click here for the entry form

The awards, run in association with holdthefrontpage, are open to print and broadcast journalists working in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Bristol, Bath, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.

Thanks to sponsorship from EDF Energy, the awards feature cash prizes and trophies for individual winners and trophies for company entries.

The judging line-up is:

Bob Satchwell, executive director of the Society of Editors, has been in his current role since the Society of Editors was formed in 1999 from the Guild of Editors, which he was president in 1997/98.
He was also a member of the Editors’ Code Committee, which produces the newspaper and magazine industry’s Code of Practice that is policed by the Press Complaints Commission. He is a non-executive director of the National Council for the Training of Journalists and a member of the Newspaper Qualifications Council. He began his career at the Lancashire Evening Post in 1970 rising to become associate editor. He went to Fleet Street as assistant editor of the News of the World before returning to regional newspapers as editor of the Cambridge Evening News in 1984, a post he held until 1998.

Malcolm Pheby is editor of the Nottingham Evening Post and regional editorial director of Northcliffe’s Midlands region.
Prior to being appointed to his current role a year ago, Malcolm was previously deputy editor of the Leicester Mercury before editing the East Anglian Daily Times and Evening Star in Ipswich. After that, he was editorial director for Eastern Counties Newspapers and then managing editor of the Daily Express. His first general management role was as managing director of the Lincolnshire Echo in 1999.

Hannah Walker has been editor of the twice-weekly South London Press since 2000. Hannah began her career with the Birmingham Post & Mail group and went on to edit papers in Rugby, Northampton and east London. She is also on the board of the Society of Editors and assigned to chair the London and Home Counties branch.

Tim Robinson is editor of the Grantham Journal, which was named Campaigning Weekly Newspaper of the Year 2007 by the Newspaper Society.
He is also managing editor of Lincolnshire Newspapers, a group of eight paid-for weekly titles which cover market towns and seaside resorts across the county. Tim is a former editor of the Rutland and Stamford Mercury (Britain’s oldest newspaper) and former editor of the Market Harborough and Lutterworth Mail.

Nigel Bowles is co-director at John Connor Press Associates. He started in press photography 20 years ago working on weekly newspapers on the south coast before moving to The Argus, in Brighton, where he spent five years on the picture desk. He left to set up the photographic department at John Connor Press Associates, where award-winning photographers take pictures for the national press, magazines and a number of corporate clients.

Karen Ainley is a former BBC local radio and regional TV reporter and presenter. She began her journalism career as a reporter on evening and weekly local papers and is an experienced CIPR-approved media trainer.

EDF Energy’s Claire Byrd completes the judging line-up. She is a former news editor and assistant editor of The Argus, in Brighton, and is now heading up EDF Energy’s regional media activity across the country.

They will spend a day judging entries across 19 print and broadcast categories.

Categories for individuals comprise:

– Print Journalist of the Year (Daily)
– Print Journalist of the Year (Weekly)
– Radio Journalist of the Year
– Television Journalist of the Year
– Newcomer of the Year
– Feature Writer of the Year
– News Photographer of the Year
– Sports Journalist of the Year
– Business Journalist of the Year
– Environmental Journalist of the Year
– Columnist of the Year

Categories for newspapers and broadcasting companies are:

– Daily Newspaper of the Year
– Weekly Newspaper of the Year (Paid-for)
– Weekly Newspaper of the Year (Free)
– Front Page of the Year
– Radio News/Current Affairs Programme of the Year
– Television News/Current Affairs Programme of the Year
– Website of the Year
– Community Campaign of the Year

All entries must be received by 5pm on Friday, April 4. They should be sent to Patrick Astill, holdthefrontpage.co.uk, AN Digital, Northcliffe House, Meadow Road, Derby DE1 2BH.

If you need any further help or guidance, please e-mail holdthefrontpage, or Hanna Spence at EDF Energy.