The Times has two nominations and The Sunday Times has one on the shortlist for this year's Paul Foot award recognising great investigative journalism.
Alex Mostrous and Fay Schlesinger won investigation of the year at last year's British Journalism Awards for "Secrets of the tax avoiders" and are nominated in the scoop of the year category for the Press Awards.
Their eight-month investigation exposed the tax-doging techniques of high-profile figures such as comedian Jimmy Carr and pop-group Take That.
The other finalists are:
Tom Bergin from Thomson Reuters for 'Starbucks slips the UK tax hook'
This four-month investigation revealed that Starbucks had paid no coporation tax in the UK in the previous three years and only £8.6m on £3.1bn of turnover in 13 years.
Jonathan Calvert and Heidi Blake from the Sunday Times for 'Generals for hire'
Posing as representatives of a ficticious arms company, Calvart and Black revealed that former generals were prepared to undertake lobbying for arms firms in breach of official rules.
Ted Jeory for the Trial by Jeory blog.
Set up in 2010 to keep the politics of Tower Hamlets council on the news agenda, this blog has uncovered stories including that of a Labour councillor arrested over an alleged threat to kill an opponent at a council meeting and invoice discrepencies which led to an in-house fraud investigation. Jeory also revealed how a senior council director and her deputy claimed for £855 first class rail tickets to Manchester on expenses.
Claire Newell, Graeme Paton, Holly Watt and Robert Winnett from the Daily Telegraph for Exam board investigation.
This investigation revealed how examine boards were giving teachers secret advice on how to improve GCSE and A level results at seminars which they charged £230 a time to attend.
Andrew Norfolk from The Times for his ongoing investigation into child sexual exploitation.
This two-year investigation looked into a hidden crime model involving the targeting, grooming and sexual exploitation of teenage girls by organised groups of men and has prompted two Government-ordered inquiries, a Parliamentary inquiry and a new national action plan on child sexual exploitation.
Stephen Wright of the Daily Mail for his coverage of the Stephen Lawrence murder and aftermath.
Stephen Wright first reported on Stephen Lawrence in February 1997, when he carried out extensive research into what was then a relatively low-profile unsolved murder in South East London. Since then, he has spearheaded the Mail’s "Justice for Stephen" campaign up until the trial of two of the original suspects, Gary Dobson and David Norris. He helped compile a comprehensive 20-page backgrounder on the case when the pair were jailed in January 2012.
Rob Waugh from the Yorkshire post for exposure of junketing and abuse of power by high-ranking police officers and officials.
The Yorkshire Post’s series of investigations looked into high-ranking police officers and officials at both national and local level revealing abuses of power and conflicts of interest. This included large-scale junketing, often courtesy of corporate credit cards.
The following journalists were highly commended by the judges:
- Kaya Burgess of The Times for Cities Fit for Cycling
- David Cohen of the Evening Standard – Ladder for London
- Gareth Davies of the Croydon Advertiser for Lillian’s Law campaign
- Ed Hammond and Caroline Binham of the Financial Times for 'Serious shortcomings: The case of the SFO and the Tchenguiz brothers'
- David Hencke, Exaro, Whitehall tax-avoidance contracts scandal
- Harry Wilson and Richard Tyler of the Sunday and Daily Telegraph for 'Interest rate swap mis-selling'.
The winner will be announced on 26 February and will receive £5,000, with £1,000 each for the runners up.
The judges were Clare Fermont, Bill Hagerty, Ian Hislop, Brian MacArthur (chair) and Alan Rusbridger.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
