A regional daily journalist has been pipped to a national award following his campaign that sparked a change in the law.

Manchester Evening News reporter Stephen Topping was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils, but the prize has been won by The Observer’s Shanti Das and Mark Townsend.

Shanti and Mark impressed judges with their work exposing how migrant workers hired as part of a government drive to plug staffing shortages are being systematically subjected to abuse and illegal recruitment practices.

Stephen was nominated after his search for the family of dead toddler Awaab Ishak’s family uncovered a string of cases of children who have fallen seriously ill in similar housing conditions in Rochdale.

How the MEN covered the case

His investigation prompted the MEN to call for the introduction of ‘Awaab’s Law’, which would compel housing associations not to allow any other child, or anyone else, to live in the kind of uninhabitable conditions suffered by the toddler.

Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Michael Gove subsequently backed the campaign and praised Stephen’s work on the issue, which won the MEN the Scoop of the Year prize at this year’s Regional Press Awards.

Journalists working for the BBC, The Guardian, ITV, the i and The Economist were also shortlisted.