The Sun picked up a special award marking its 50^th anniversary at a gala dinner hosted by the Society of Editors last night, at which a video message from Rupert Murdoch was shown.

Sun editor Tony Gallagher (pictured, right) collected the prize, which recognised the good causes championed by the newspaper over the five decades since it relaunched as a tabloid in 1969 under Murdoch.

The Australian media mogul bought the paper from Mirror group boss Hugh Cudlipp. It went on to become the UK’s best-selling daily newspaper.