A veteran political journalist has died suddenly while covering an international conference in Azerbaijan.

Tributes have been paid to Nick Powell, a former head of politics at ITV Wales and also a leading figure in the National Union of Journalists and the Journalists’ Charity in Wales.

Nick, who was 66, is believed to have suffered a heart attack while attending a media conference in Azerbaijan for online political journal EU Reporter.

The EU Reporter team are supporting Nick’s wife, Lesley, and working with the UK Foreign and Development office to arrange to bring Nick back home.

Nick, pictured, was chair of the NUJ’s Welsh Executive Council and a member of the Journalists’ Charity’s Wales committee which organises the Wales Media Awards.

Fellow Welsh leaders and union officials are among those who have paid tribute to the broadcaster.

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: “The news of Nick’s sudden death has come as an enormous shock and the NUJ’s collective condolences are extended to all of his family, friends and colleagues who will feel his loss so keenly.

“Nick has made an enormous contribution to journalism and to the union over many years – he will be much missed.”

Friend and colleague Martin Shipton, who chairs the union’s South Wales branch, added: “Nick’s death has come as an enormous shock and I write this with a feeling of great sadness. I knew him for the best part of 30 years, initially as a fellow journalist but then through his union activity too.

“His knowledge of Welsh political history was prodigious and his take on developments as they occurred was always insightful. He came across as being calm and unflappable, and he also had a dry wit.

“His contribution to the union’s work will be greatly missed. He has steered the WEC through the crises affecting our members in all sectors.

“His motivation was always to ensure that quality journalism could flourish and that the union looked after those who looked to it for support. It’s incredibly sad that he has died when he had so much more to give.”

Born and brought up in the Vale of Glamorgan, Nick initially joined BBC Wales as a graduate trainee, progressing to become a researcher and a producer.

But in 1988 he left the corporation to begin a 33-year stint at HTV/ITV Wales, rising to become head of politics.

Based at Westminster, he oversaw the channel’s coverage of the Welsh devolution referendum in 1998 which led to the setting up of the Senedd, before moving to Cardiff to head up the expanded political team covering the new body.

He left ITV in 2021, joining the news website EU Reporter as political editor.

Journalists’ Charity Wales Committee member and former senior TV executive Elis Owen, who worked closely with Nick for many years, said he would be hugely missed.

He said: “Nick joined ITV Wales, then known as HTV Wales, more than thirty years ago. He immediately made an impact on the News and political team with his journalistic skills and encyclopaedic knowledge of the UK and Welsh political scene.

“In his role he made an enormous contribution to the formative years of the new Welsh political landscape and was on good terms with all parts of the political spectrum.

“After leaving ITV Wales he became a diligent and respected figurehead for the National Union of Journalists in Wales as well as working as the political editor of EU Reporter where he reported on and analysed events throughout Europe and beyond.”

Adrian Masters, political editor for ITV Cymru Wales, has also penned a personal tribute here.

He wrote: “Nick was someone that you’d rarely see on-screen so maybe his name won’t be familiar to you. But his role enabled me and others to do what you do see.

“He was the one with the knowledge and expertise who led our political coverage for so long, guided us all as to what we should or shouldn’t be reporting, made sure that the programmes happened and kept us within the rules.

“It was an essential job and one that could be easily overlooked. For those of us who worked with him at ITV and in the wider world of Welsh politics, he was a lynchpin and much of our reputation rested on his work.”