A young reporter has scored top honours at this year’s Wales Media Awards after winning four prizes.
Katie Sands achieved the rare double of being named both Young Journalist of the Year and then overall Journalist of the Year at Friday’s ceremony in Cardiff.
The WalesOnline reporter also took home the Digital Journalist of the Year prize as well as the joint award for Story of the Year with Western Mail & WalesOnline colleagues Adam Walker & Steffan Rhys for their work on the 50th anniversary of the Aberfan disaster.
WalesOnline writer Will Hayward won the Online Journalist of the Year award while Ben James was named SPorts Journalist of the Year.
The website itself was named News Website of the Year with the Western Mail named Newspaper of the Year.
WalesOnline’s editor-in-chief Paul Rowland said: “I’m thrilled to see the work of our outstanding team recognised in this way. Katie, Will and Ben are three absolutely outstanding young journalists whose awards are richly deserved, but the team awards for the Western Mail and WalesOnline are a credit to the entire team, who all bring awesome creativity and graft to work with them every day.
“Finally, we’re humbled to have been recognised for our work on the 50th anniversary of the Aberfan disaster. We all feel a huge moral responsibility to cover the story sensitively and skilfully, so we’re honoured to have our coverage recognised by the judges.”
There was an outstanding contribution award to Peter Jackson, the former Belfast Telegraph and South Wales Echo reporter who went on to achieve global recognition for his writing & broadcasting after joining the Daily Mail in 1974.
The Wales Media Awards are organised on behalf of the Journalists’ Charity, with support from a range of sponsors and partners including Comtek Sorrento Networks, Google, Camelot, Western Power, the NUJ and the Welsh government.
The full list of winners was:
News Photographer of the Year: Don Jackson-Wyatt, NWN Media
Camera Operator of the Year: Dai Baker, C4 News
Independent Community News Service of the Year: Caerphilly Observer
Magazine of the Year: Wales Business Insider
Digital Journalist of the Year: Katie Sands, WalesOnline
Feature Writer of the Year: Ceri Jackson, BBC Cymru Wales
News Website of the Year: WalesOnline
Specialist Journalist of the Year: James Crichton-Smith, ITV Cymru Wales
On-line News Reporter of the Year: Will Hayward, WalesOnline
Print News Reporter of the Year: Mari Jones, Daily Post
Radio News Reporter of the Year: Sarah Moore, BBC Radio Wales
TV News Reporter of the Year: Rob Osborne, ITV Cymru Wales
Daily/Sunday Newspaper of the Year: Western Mail
Weekly Newspaper of the Year: Western Telegraph
Radio News & Current Affairs Programme of the Year: Eye on Wales, BBC Radio Wales
TV News & Current Affairs Programme of the Year: Wales at Six, ITV Cymru Wales
Ed Townsend Student Journalist of the Year Award: Elen Hannah Davies, Cardiff University
Young Journalist of the Year: Katie Sands, WalesOnline
Political Journalist of the Year: Rachel Flint, BBC Cymru Wales
Sports Journalist of the Year: Ben James, Media Wales
Story of the Year: Katie Sands, Adam Walker & Steffan Rhys, Western Mail & WalesOnline
Journalist of the Year: Katie Sands, WalesOnline
Outstanding Contribution: Peter Jackson