Times reporter Andrew Norfolk has won the Paul Foot Award for his two-year investigation into targeting, grooming and sexual exploitation of teenage girls by gangs of men.
The awards, organised by Private Eye and The Guardian, also saw Yorkshire Post journalist Rob Waugh named runner-up.
Waugh was recognised for a series of investigations into dubious spending by senior Cleveland Police officers and abuse of power by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and Chief Police Officers' Staff Association (CPOSA).
Judges also gave the Daily Mail’s Stephen Wright a Special Campaign Award for his 15 years of reporting on the Stephen Lawrence murder.
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Norfolk was awarded £5,000, and Waugh and Wright both received £2,000 each.
Private Eye editor Ian Hislop said: “An excellent winner in a really strong and varied field. The Foot awards this year are a powerful post-Leveson riposte to all those who want to think only the worst of journalists.
“The shortlist celebrates those whose great skill is to make the public really interested in what is really in the public interest.”
The shortlisted entries (each receiving £1,000 each) were:
- Times reporters Alexi Mostrous and Fay Schlesinger for their investigation into tax avoidance
- The Sunday Times Insight Team Jonathan Calvert and Heidi Blake for Tory treasurer sells access to PM/Retired general lobby for defence contracts
- Four Daily Telegraph journalists – Claire Newell, Graeme Paton, Holly Watt and Robert Winnet – for their probe into coaching given by A-level and GCSE exam boards
- Thomson Reuters’ Tom Bergin for Corporate tax avoidance by Vodafone and Starbucks
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Ted Jeory for Trial by Jeory blog exposing corruption in Tower Hamlets.
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