British Journalism Awards 2022 launched: Event bigger than ever

Press Gazette is proud to announce the launch of the 11th British Journalism Awards for public interest journalism.

The awards winners will be announced on Thursday 15 December at a new venue – the London Hilton Park Lane – meaning this year’s event will be the biggest ever.

To qualify for inclusion work must be aimed mainly at a UK audience and published between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022.

Last year the British Journalism Awards attracted some 840 entries from every major news organisation in the UK.

The dinner itself was hosted by Jeremy Vine and saw 600 of the UK’s leading journalists gather in celebration.

Watch the British Journalism Awards 2021 highlights video:

ITV’s Robert Moore was crowned journalist of the year for his exclusive report from inside the US Capitol when it was stormed by Trump supporters. 2021 was the first time the British Journalism Awards has seen a 50/50 split in terms of male and female winners (full list of 2021 British Journalism Awards winners here).

The British Journalism Awards 2022 has three new categories: travel, personal finance and built environment (scroll down for full list).

The 70 British Journalism Awards judges are chosen for their experience, expertise and independence. They are asked to assess the work entered according to three criteria: revelation, journalistic skill and rigour and public interest.

Chairman of judges and Press Gazette editor in chief Dominic Ponsford said: “Winning a British Journalism Award is the ultimate accolade for any journalist. These awards celebrate work which has made an impact and changed the world for the better.

“At time when trust in journalism is declining, this event is a reminder of the huge public good done by our industry in contrast with the harm often done by unregulated tech platforms and social media.”

British Journalism Awards versus The Press Awards

The British Journalism Awards are not to be confused with the Press Awards which are this year under new management and being run by Haymarket Media. Press Gazette has had no involvement in the Press Awards since 2009, when we ran the event as the British Press Awards.

In 2011 the British Press Awards were rebranded as The Press Awards and, until 2021, were run by the Society of Editors on behalf of the Newspaper Publishers Association/News Media Association.

The British Journalism Awards are open to all UK news media and run independently of any industry trade bodies.

Barbara Blake Hannah and diversity

We have decided to expand the Barbara Blake Hannah Award into a wider recognition of the need for diversity and inclusion.

For the last two years this prize was given to the best up and coming journalist from a black and minority ethnic background. We now want to ensure a diverse range of people are recognised across the awards, not focused on one category.

We are hugely grateful to Barbara for lending her name to our awards for the two years we have given a prize in her honour, and for inspiring a new generation of journalists with her example of breaking through barriers in the face of racism.

We now want to deepen and broaden our commitment to diversity across the event.

Press Gazette continues to have an awards category on “Social affairs, diversity and inclusion” and continues to work hard to ensure that the British Journalism Awards reflects our whole industry and the UK population as a whole.

This year the event will again be free to enter for journalists from previously under-represented groups who do not have a news organisation willing to support their entry. For more details about how to enter, criteria and costings go to the British Journalism Awards 2022 website.

Full list of categories for the 2022 British Journalism Awards:

Arts and Entertainment Journalism
Built Environment
Business Finance and Economics Journalism
Campaign of the Year
Comment Journalism
Crime and Legal Affairs
Features
Foreign Affairs
Health and Life Sciences
Innovation, sponsored by the Google News Initiative
Interviewer
Investigation
Journalist of the Year
Local
New Journalist of the Year (must have working as a journalist for less than three years)
News Provider of the Year
Personal Finance
Photojournalism
Politics
Scoop of the Year
Specialist
Sport
Technology, sponsored by Infosys
Travel
Social Affairs, Diversity and Inclusion
Energy and Environment

Special Prizes

Marie Colvin Award – Launched in memory of the late Sunday Times foreign correspondent, this category is free to enter and anyone can make a nomination. The judges are looking for an outstanding up and coming journalist of Marie’s calibre.
Public Service – Selected by the British Journalism Awards judges for the entrant who has made the year’s outstanding contribution to public service.