The Bath Chronicle was the star of the Western Newspapers Awards, walking away with a string of editorial awards to its name.
Darren
Risby won design journalist of the year as well as an award for his
Business Monthly editorial supplement, while Gabi Woolgar won feature
writer of the year. Anna Mansell won the Katharine Rainey Memorial
Award for trainees, and Sam Farr picked up photographer of the year.
Central Somerset Gazette reporter Christian Lockyer was named as journalist of the year.
Wendy
Walker, a reporter on the Somerset Guardian, won campaign of the year
after she uncovered the possible closure of the Polestar-Purnell print
factory, which could result in a potential 425 redundancies. Judges
said that Wendy had “covered a story that had a huge impact on everyone
in its circulation area.”
Headline of the year went to Carol
Vincent for “Tesco Chainsaw Massacre”, about the supermarket chain’s
plans to chop down dozens of trees to make way for a new store in the
paper’s catchment area.
Other winners included Charles Oliver of
Taunton Times as sports journalist; and the Western’s Gazette’s Rebecca
Byrne as editorial assistant.
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