This piece first appeared in the Autumn edition of Press Gazette – Journalism Quarterly, to take out a subscription (from £20 a year) – call 0845 073 9607. Please specify if you would like your subscription to begin with the current edition.

Martin Samuel was in New York, poised to cover Andy Murray’s historic US Open victory, when he was told he had been voted as the best sports journalist in Press Gazette’s top 50 list. Three days earlier, he had been in Moldova to watch England in a World Cup qualifier.

Talking to Press Gazette at 6am from his New York hotel room, he says: “It’s not for someone who likes order and structure, this job. I don’t have an average week. You never know where you’re going to be.”