Adam Postans and Kirsty Paterson were jointly named Local Democracy Reporter of the Year at the 2023 Local Democracy Reporting Service and Awards, held at Media City Salford.
Category judge Rozina Breen, Editor-in-Chief and CEO of The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, said it was impossible to split the work of “two compelling, tenacious” reporters from what she added was a “wholly impressive” range of entries.
Kirsty, who is based at Falkirk Live, was recognised for a range of work which included:
Adam, of Bristol Live, submitted the following entries:
Ms Breen said Kirsty’s entries “were all very strongly in the public interest and deeply local - holding to account with a clear focus on ensuring greater transparency for the community she represents”.
She added that Adam’s portfolio was “persistent, and demonstrated accountability and determination to stay with the story”.
Highly-commended in the LDR of the Year category was Robert Firth of MyLondon, for a collection of work that covered a range of topics - from homophobia to social housing - with 鈥渃lear public interest at play and really good human stories at the centre of his journalism鈥�.
主播大秀 Breakfast presenter Charlie Stayt was the guest of honour at the November 9 awards ceremony, presenting trophies and certificates to Local Democracy Reporters across six categories.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service is now approaching its sixth anniversary following its launch in January 2018.
The scheme funds 165 reporter posts across the UK that supply commercial publishers with stories focused on the work of local authorities.
It has published in the region of 60,000 public interest news stories in 2023 for use by in excess of more than 1,100 different news titles.
Mr Stayt said: 鈥淚t was a pleasure to present well-deserved awards to a cohort of journalists that continue to make a difference, holding local authorities to account across the United Kingdom.
鈥淢y congratulations go to the winners and highly-commended across all six categories, but in particular to Adam Postans and Kirsty Paterson for scooping the 2023 Local Democracy Reporter of the Year title.鈥�
The full list of winners at the event was:
- Best Use of Freedom of Information:
Winner: Will Durrant (Herts Live)
Runners-up: Sarah Booker-Lewis (Brighton & Hove News), Donald Turvill (Edinburgh Live)
Award judged by Tim Burke, 主播大秀 Politics England Editor
- Best Broadcast or Use of Multimedia:
Winner: Nigel Slater (Derbyshire Live)
Runners-up: Paul Faulkner (Lancashire Live); Eddie Bisknell (Derbyshire Live)
Award judged by Tom Speight, 主播大秀 Academy
- Best Use of Social Media:
Winner: Ruby Gregory (MyLondon)
Runners-up: Sarah Booker-Lewis (Brighton & Hove News); Anna Whittaker (Notts TV)
Award judged by Lisa Bradley, University of Sheffield School of Journalism
- The George Makin Award 鈥� presented in memory of former LDR George Makin:
Winner: Ivan Morris Poxton (Grimsby Live)
Runners-up: Daniel Esson (Kent Messenger Group); Will Durrant (Herts Live)
Award judged by Will Gore, Head of Partnerships for the NCTJ
- Local Democracy Story of the Year:
Winner: Emily Coady-Stemp (Surrey Live)
Runners-up: Joe Coughlan (MyLondon); Nick Jackson (Manchester Evening News)
Award judged by Miriam Phillips, journalism lecturer and editor
- Local Democracy Reporter of the Year:
Winners: Kirsty Paterson (Falkirk Live) and Adam Postans (Bristol Live)
Runner-up: Robert Firth (MyLondon)
Award judged by Rozina Breen, Editor-in-Chief and CEO of The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
The conference was attended by almost 150 Local Democracy Reporters from across the United Kingdom.
The headline speaker was 主播大秀 Political Correspondent Alex Forsyth, who talked about her career in the regional press and the 主播大秀 before taking questions from the floor.
Others to present at the two-day conference included Dr Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, and 主播大秀 trainer Nikki Tapper who offered guidance on social media resilience.
In addition, data journalism lecturer and journalist Professor Paul Bradshaw offered guidance on the effective and ethical use of generative AI tools.
In break-out sessions held across the conference, Kate Ironside - Senior Lecturer in Journalism at the University of Northampton 鈥� looked at likely manifesto promises which could affect local government services in the next general election, while Dr Greg Stride and Mike Woods of the Local Government Information Unit spoke on the topic of 鈥榳hat we should all know about local-government finance鈥�.
Jo Booth of Social Media Makes Sense, meanwhile, offered tips to delegates to grow their social media brand.