A reporter covering London’s deprived East End has become the first local newspaper journalist to have been shortlisted in the Citizen UKs’ Journalist of the Year award.

Mike Brooke, from Archant’s The Docklands & East London Advertiser is up against competition from the national media in the awards which are in their sixth year.

Mike, the paper’s former news editor and an ex-BBC London radio and TV news producer-broadcaster, was nominated by Citizen UK’s East London ‘Telco’ branch for his involvement with their community campaigns over the past four years.

He competes with Heather Stewart of The Guardian and Observer and Chinese Journalist Shiao Hung.

Said Mike: “The nomination came out of the blue—and being shortlisted down to three names.

“I have worked with UK Citizens since their successful ‘London Wage’ campaign at Canary Wharf in 2007 for low-pay workers.

“More recently I covered their campaign last winter—sitting in draughty church halls week after week—to persuade Lord Coe’s committee to bring the 2012 Olympics Marathon back to the East End, even if we didn’t quite pull it off.

“But perhaps the one best remembered for me was signing up the East London Advertiser to their CitySafe register when our Bethnal Green offices were declared a ‘safe haven’ for teenagers in danger from street violence in the East End and arranging a live outside broadcast on BBC London (my former employers) in their Breakfast Show.”

The Citizens UK awards are at London’s City Hall on 7 December.

Past winners include writer Paul Donavan, BBC Newsnight’s Paul Maso, The Guardian’s Polly Toynbee and Allegra Stratton and The Independent’s Amol Rajan.