Daily Telegraph dominates British Press Awards with expenses exposé

The Daily Telegraph dominated the British Press Awards, winning six prizes for its exposé on MPs' expenses. It claimed newspaper of the year, while editor-in-chief Will Lewis was awarded journalist of the year for the forensic investigation into expenses claimed by politicians that led to an unprecedented number of MPs quitting parliament. Accepting his award Lewis said: "If there was ever a story that proved that news still sells newspapers I suspect this was it." Lewis thanked the judges, the paper's owners, chief executive Murdoch MacLennan and his colleagues, saying that the investigation was a group effort. Judges at the 2010 award ceremony, held at London's Grosvenor House hotel, praised the brilliant execution and presentation of the detail, saying it took a lot of courage to publish the exposé obtained from a dubious source. The judges' award went to freelance journalist and freedom of information campaigner Heather Brooke, whose tireless campaigning did so much to keep the story in the public eye. She praised the Telegraph for doing a brilliant job but appealed to Fleet Street to be more co-operative on major stories. "I don't begrudge the Telegraph and I hope they don't begrudge me. The fact is I'm fucking proud," she said. The Daily Telegraph also walked away with political journalist of the year, which went to Robert Winnett; scoop of the year; campaign of the year; and special supplement of the year for its The Complete Expenses File. The Guardian's Paul Lewis won reporter of the year for revealing the details of the death of newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protest. The Guardian also took the feature writer of the year award which went to Tanya Gold. "She laughed at herself but never at the reader," the judges said. Tributes were paid at the ceremony to Rupert Hamer, the Sunday Mirror journalist and the first British journalist killed covering the Afghanistan conflict. The Press Gazette editor, Dominic Ponsford, said: "It was a devastating loss, not only to his friends and family, but to the Sunday Mirror newsroom and to the wider community of defence and foreign correspondents." The Times won four awards and the Sunday Times took three, while the Mail on Sunday and the Daily Mail won two awards each. The awards Newspaper of the year: Daily Telegraph Journalist of the year: Will Lewis, editor-in-chief, Telegraph Media Group Judges' award: Heather Brooke Foreign journalist of the year: JS Tissainayagam from Sri Lanka Journalists' charity award: Walter Greenwood Reporter of the year: Paul Lewis, the Guardian Foreign reporter of the year: Marie Colvin, Sunday Times Political journalist of the year: Robert Winnett, Daily Telegraph Specialist journalist of the year: Jason Lewis, Mail on Sunday Campaign of the year: MPs' expenses, Daily Telegraph Feature writer of the year: Tanya Gold, the Guardian Special supplement of the year: MPs' expenses, Daily Telegraph Regular supplement of the year: You, Mail on Sunday Cudlipp award for campaigning popular journalism: Andrew Penman and Nick Sommerlad, Investigate, Daily Mirror Scoop of the year: Daily Telegraph, MPs' expenses Business and finance journalist of the year: Iain Dey, Sunday Times Sports journalist of the year: Mike Atherton, the Times Photographer of the year: Stefan Rousseau, Press Association Sports photographer of the year: Andy Hooper, Daily Mail Showbiz reporter of the year: Dan Wootton, News of the World Interviewer of the year: Camilla Long, Sunday Times Digital innovation: SunTalk, the Sun Critic of the year: Quentin Letts, Daily Mail Cartoonist of the year: Peter Brookes, the Times Young journalist of the year: Sheera Frankel, the Times Columnist of the year: Caitlin Moran, the Times