British Journalism Awards 2012 showcase: Breaking News finalists

A showcase of the public interest journalism (in every sense) which saw these reporters commended by the British Journalism Awards judges as breaking news story category finalists.

Winners: Andrew Gregory (Daily Mirror) and Steve Back (Political Pictures)

Gregory and Back’s revelation Oliver Letwin caught throwing away secret papers in public bins won Breaking News Award of the year.

“This was a great, old-fashioned scoop,” said the judges.

“It was fun, revelatory and the fact that some of the documents Letwin was discarding in park bins were about terrorism and national security meant this story was clearly in the public interest.”

Finalists

Alexi Mostrous and Fay Schesinger (The Times)

The tax avoiders revealed that comedian Jimmy Carr was the biggest beneficiary of K2 tax avoiding scheme.

Taxman v. Take That exposed a music investment scheme used by the members of pop band Take That.

Screenplay: how movie millions are moved off shore explained how wealthy City investors are secretly moving tens of millions of pounds offshore using tax efficient film finance schemes.

The Guardian

The intercepted messages of Bashar al-Assad contained a number of revelations:

Secret emails lift lid on life of Assad’s inner circle

London doctor who advised Assad during crackdown

Smart, smooth and US-educated: the young woman who helped Assad with media advice

Jon Ungoed-Thomas (The Sunday Times)

Ungoed-Thomas' scoop Google grabs secrets of our private lives revealed how much access Google had gained to our personal data through its streetview exercise: