Outgoing Sky News chief John Ryley is to chair the judging panel for the 2023 MHP Group 30ToWatch Journalism awards.
Now in its 12th year, 30ToWatch has recognised some of the best young talent in the industry including Sophy Ridge, Harry Cole, Kate McCann and Lewis Goodall.
Free to enter (deadline Friday 31 March), the awards are for all journalists aged 30 or younger in categories including News and Investigations, City, Politics, Production (TV, radio, podcasts) and Consumer Affairs.
Among the more recent winner are Marianna Spring, the BBC’s first specialist disinformation correspondent, Nadine White who became the UK’s first dedicated race correspondent at the Independent and Nathan Lee of ITV News for his role in breaking Partygate.
Ryley, who is stepping down after 17 years in charge at Sky News, gave the keynote speech at last year’s 30ToWatch awards ceremony.
He said: “When you get to my age the tendency is to look back at decades past and to develop a rose-tinted reminiscence of a better bygone age.
“But in many ways Sky News was born exactly because of a belief that the best days of journalism lay ahead as long as the industry was ready to adapt, innovate and stimulate.
“Because the truth is that if we are ever to talk about the golden age of journalism, we should be absolutely clear about something:
“The golden age of journalism is always ahead of us.”
Ryley will lead a judging panel of 20 senior journalists including: Ruth Sunderland, of the Daily Mail, Daniel Hewitt, from ITV News and Robert Guest the Deputy Editor of the Economist.
They will be joined by former 30ToWatch winners John Stevens (political editor of the Mirror), Kat Lay (Health editor of The Times) and Peter Campbell (Global Motoring Correspondent at the FT).
One of last year’s winners, Molly Clayton of the Mail on Sunday, has encouraged other young journalists to enter the MHP Group 30ToWatch awards.
She said: “It’s a really hard industry to get into and can be a hard industry to work in. So I think it’s really important to celebrate the work of journalists and their achievements, especially young journalists.”
Victoria Newton, the editor of the Sun will give the keynote speech at this year’s MHP Group 30 to Watch prize-giving ceremony at News UK on 3 May.
The event will be hosted by Lucrezia Millarini of ITV News.
Enter the 30ToWatch journalism awards now (for free) deadline is end of the day 31 March 2023
Judging panel for the 2023 MHP Group 30ToWatch Journalism Awards:
- John Ryley, Head of Sky News
- Anne Alexander, Head of Politics, Good Morning Britain
- Robert Guest, Deputy Editor, The Economist
- Jim Norton, Technology Editor, Daily Mail
- Natalie Kenway, Global Head of ESG Insight, ESG Clarity
- Emily Fairbairn, Associate Head of Features, The Sun
- Kerri-Ann Roper, Head of Entertainment & Features, PA Media
- John Stevens, Political Editor, Daily Mirror
- Paul Morgan-Bentley, Head of Investigations, The Times
- Colletta Smith, Cost of Living Correspondent, BBC News
- Ruth Sunderland, Group Business Editor Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday
- Richard Fletcher, Business Editor, The Times
- Anthony France, Senior News Correspondent, Evening Standard
- Peter Campbell, Global Motor Industry Correspondent, Financial Times
- Daniel Hewitt, Investigations Correspondent, ITV (Charlotte)
- Sam Taylor, Interim Chief Operating Officer, BBC
- Sonia Sodha, Columnist, The Guardian
- Kat Lay, Health Editor, The Times
- Laura Donnelly, Health Editor, The Telegraph
- Ben Wilkinson, Head of Personal Finance, Daily Telegraph
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