From left: Lord Deedes, Alison Boshoff, Jonathan Holborow, Trisha Fermor, Bob Driscoll and Shepherd Neame chief executive Jonathan Neame
Kent & Sussex Courier chief reporter Trisha Fermor has scooped top honours in the Shepherd Neame Kent Journalist of the Year Awards.
Fermor was voted the Kent Journalist of the Year, as the county’s leading newspaper and broadcast journalists gathered at the Kent brewer’s medieval reception centre in Faversham last week.
Judges praised Fermor’s “measured professionalism” throughout the five articles she submitted, which included a feature on the plight of tigers in India.
She said: “It’s terrific to get an award for something I love doing. I believe I have one of the best jobs in the world and getting an award just puts the icing on the cake.”
The Bishops Finger Kent Broadcast Journalist of the Year award went to BBC Radio Kent presenter Jonathan Witchell.
One of his submissions was a halfhour package for which he traced the journey of James Bond in the film Moonraker from London, through Kent and to the coast.
A successful battle to rescue the Biggin Hill Air Fair, which was threatened because of a lack of sponsors, was orchestrated by News Shopper editor Andrew Parkes, winning him the Kent Campaign of the Year Award.
The panel of judges, which has been chaired since the awards began in 1988 by former Daily Telegraph editor Lord Deedes, comprised Jonathan Holborow, editor of The Mail on Sunday from 1992 to 1998, Daily Mail showbiz writer Alison Boshoff and Bob Driscoll, former Daily Mail sports news editor.
The winners were:
Shepherd Neame Kent Journalist of the Year: Trisha Fermor, Kent & Sussex Courier.
Kent Campaign of the Year: Andrew Parkes, News Shopper.
Kent Young Journalist of the Year: Sinead Hanna, Folkestone Herald.
Bishops Finger Kent Broadcast Journalist of the Year: Jonathan Witchell, BBC Radio Kent.
Spitfire Kent Sports Journalist of the Year: Jo Hernon, Kent Messenger Group.
By Sarah Lagan
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