Winners 2024

The 2024 News Awards celebrated the achievements of our people and teams throughout 2023. Thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate, and thanks too to the judges. And huge congratulations to all our winners:
 

Most Impactful Journalism

Joint winners:

Gaza Lifeline Radio Service Team – represented by Ibrahim Abdelbaki

and

McDonalds Abuse – Mark Broad, Noor Nanji and Zoe Conway

Pictured: Noor Nanji, Mark Broad, Ibrahim Abdelbaki & Eleanor Layhe

Judges said the Gaza Lifeline Radio Service was a really important piece of public service work across many platforms – finding a way to reach those who needed our service the most.

Judges said that McDonalds Abuse this was a shocking investigation that we would all have an interest in given the profile of McDonalds. The rollout across multiple platforms and the resulting impact was strong, and it was impressive to read about the collaboration across departments and the creativity involved.

Unsung Hero (editorial)

Ashraf Madboly – News Editor for BBC Arabic

Ashraf was nominated for his pivotal role in supporting Gaza colleagues and their families day to day and moving them out of Gaza to safety. The nomination said he was absolutely central to this vital work, given the extremely high risk to life.

Unsung Hero (non-editorial)

Paul Vary – Content Accountant

Paul’s nominator said that there really are only ten people that the BBC cannot do without and that Paul is one of them! They wanted to thank him for his selfless support and his patient, kind and knowledgeable help.

Outstanding Innovation

New Tools for Newsgathering: TAPAS and Recognise – with teams from Newslabs, Verify and BBC Eye.

Pictured (left to right): Philip Hatcher-Moore, Jack McPoland, Julie McManus & Marie Rasmussen

TAPAS and Recognise are powerful new tools with cutting-edge search technologies that enable our journalists to find and verify stories on Telegram that could otherwise go unnoticed. They can save journalists significant time researching and standing up important stories, help spot trends and stories hidden across multiple timelines, and even validate where viral media first appeared online.

The work of the BBC Eye team with documentaries like They Call Us Meat show how these tools unlock new ways to tell new stories. The tools have been developed collaboratively by Eye, Verify and News Labs in R&D, and will be scaled into a pilot across News in 2024.

Outstanding Contribution to Operations

Ali Farahani – Senior Picture Editor

Judges noted that Ali exemplifies the BBC’s values when it comes to collaborating and working creatively – especially acknowledging that he’s made a real change and real impact within the team.

They also wanted us to give a special mention to Ammie Sekhon and Simon Morris as strong runners up.

Outstanding Initiative for Reaching Underserved Audiences

Dars – Georgina Pearce and Mariam Aman

Pictured (left to right): Mariam Aman & Georgina Pearce

Judges said that this was a stand-out nomination and that it really embodied the spirit of what the BBC is all about. They noted that there really isn’t a more underserved audience than girls in Afghanistan who are missing out on a vital education. Read this interview with Georgina and Mariam when they launched the new programme back in April 2023.

Team Leader of the Year

Joint winners:

Ashish Dikshit – Senior News Editor, World Service Output

Hayley Valentine – formerly the Editor of the Radio Newsroom

Judges noted that Ashish is a role model for being both great editorially and as a leader. They praised the work he has done in terms of the diversity and inclusion agenda and said he’s clearly trying to change and mould the culture positively, even during a time of great change in World Service.

Judges awarded Hayley because of the positive impact she has had in terms of journalism, creativity, culture, pushing boundaries, and being a fearless manager of people. They said this is something to champion and to cherish.

And the judges also wanted to give a special mention to Ed Campbell as a very strong runner up.

Rising Star of the Year - In memory of Hanna Yusuf  

Madina Maishanu – Senior Social Media Journalist, BBC Hausa

Judges wanted to recognise the work Madina has done to break taboos. They were hugely impressed by her – especially due to the fact that she’s done so much work with very few resources. A true rising star and one to watch for the future.

They also wanted to recognise Kirsty and Jonelle for their work on social media and the Reliable Sauce podcast as very strong runners up.

Outstanding Original Journalism or Investigation

The Trap: Inside the blackmail scam destroying lives across India – Ankur Jain, Poonam Agarwal, Ronny Sen, Nupur Sonar, Mike Rudin & Daniel Adamson.

Pictured: Online – Poonam Agarwal, Ankur Jain, Ronny Sen; In person – Mike Rudin, Dan Adamson

Judges said that The Trap is an astonishing story that had a real impact. They felt that it has so far been less recognised than other nominees as a piece of work, but that it surprised them the most and gave them the greatest pause for thought.

Special Recognition

The BBC High Risk Team

Pictured: Back row – Tim Coey, Sudeep Mitra, Ben Hussein, Debbie Hughes;  Front row: Ehsan Rashid, Tim Moffat, Chris Bullock, Georgie Thompson & Andrew Cross

News Board said the work they do is vital to our ability to tell the news in places where very few people dare to go. And often they have the lives of our journalists and producers in their hands.

From being on the ground in Afghanistan Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East to advising senior stakeholders about military escalations, they are on hand pretty much 24/7 to keep our people safe, no matter where in the world they are.

Gold Award – in memory of Jon Leleu

The BBC News Team in Gaza

Pictured: Rushdi and (left to right) Jehad Mashharawi, Ismael Hamada, Hani Kali, Adnan El Bursh, Feras Al Kilani, Mahmoud Abu Qammar & Mahmoud Al Ajrami.

Pictured clockwise from front left: Feras Al Ajrami, Mahmoud Abu Qamar, Jehad Mashharawi, Adnan El Bursh, Mahmoud Al Ajrami, Ismail Hamada & Hani Kali

Deborah Turness said there are few of us who can understand what the last six months have been like for the team in Gaza and their families. She thanked them for their incredible bravery, resilience and commitment to our journalism during such a difficult time, helping tell the story of what, for them, has been such a personal conflict.

News Board also recognised the BBC Monitoring Middle East team as very strong runners up.

There were mentions for a number of freelancers in Gaza – without them we wouldn’t be able to capture as much as we have of the human impact of the conflict. And also for the Incident Management Teams who have worked so hard over the last couple of years managing our incident response to situations, from Afghanistan to the Ukraine/Russia war and now the conflict in the Middle East.