IBP Annual National Journalism Awards 2021 – Winning Journalists’ citation
Architecture Writer of the Year
Frances Williams, Architects’ Journal, is a journalist with a distinctive voice who writes with style and confidence. This submission is packed with closely-observed details achieving an easy balance between technicalities, interviews and personal observation. Each feature demonstrates a sharp critical eye, making the reader almost feel as if they are at the scene. This writer highlights the importance of recycling buildings of merit, bringing historic architecture to life.
Construction/Infrastructure Writer of the Year
Thomas Lane, Building, produced three well-structured articles; packed with detail and delivered at pace.
The piece on ‘The drive for green machines’ being very much of our time, benefitted from in-depth research and close attention to detail.
The highly topical piece ‘What are we going to do about concrete’– was well structured and informative, drawing high praise from the judges.
The ‘Cornish’ piece completed a trilogy of interesting and insightful articles – which, the judges agreed, were simply outstanding.
News Reporter of the Year
Jack Simpson – Inside Housing, entered three powerful, investigative and still hugely topical fire safety stories that lead the way and were followed up by major national media coverage, bringing them to the wider audience they deserve.
Feature Writer of the Year
Martina Lees, The Sunday Times, entered three powerful and empathetic articles each engaging and insightful.
The comprehensive and hard-hitting piece on ‘Families trapped in fire risk flats they cannot sell’ – (appearing on the front page of a national newspaper) helped to further expose the true scale of the fall-out from the Grenfell fire – in the judges view an outstanding piece of journalism.
The piece ‘Footing the bill for the cladding crisis’ was praised by the judges for its detailed research and heartfelt portrayal of the human as well as material cost of this continuing tragedy.
Business/Financial Journalist of the Year
David Price, Construction News, submissions showed his ability to break scoops and identify trends. The variety highlighted his breadth. His explanation of why the pandemic had failed to produce a surge in bankruptcies – but why it would – was timely and analytical. His writing is crisp, tight, and had impact.
Housing/Residential Journalist of the Year
Peter Apps, Inside Housing, has a talent for finding fresh angles on big national stories but also unearthing stories on subjects away from the limelight and flagging up the wider implications for the housing sector.
New Journalist of the Year
Jennifer Hahn, Dezeen, delivered three very different stories, demonstrating versatility, maturity and an ability to dig out a story and raise awareness on subjects of importance. The writer avoids swallowing the PR line and digs deeper giving critical, balanced, provocative and revealing pieces. Design that produces carbon-neutral buildings runs through this submission.
Scoop of the Year
Martina Lees, The Sunday Times, winning article was an incredibly well researched piece which for the first time quantified the scale of the cladding crisis and how it was impacting 1.5 million households from across all tenures. It was a great piece of journalism and not surprisingly the journalists coverage of the issue has been frequently cited in parliament as the nightmare rolls on.
Editorial Brand of the Year
Winner: Architects’ Journal
On the foundations of its thoughtful, well-written and often brave B2B journalism, the AJ speaks with a passionate and eloquent editorial voice. The magazine and website offer complementary experiences, powered by clear and well executed editorial goals. The brand provokes and promotes its principles beyond its core audience, as is exemplified by the impressive cut-through of its ongoing Retrofirst campaign.
Highly commended: Inside Housing
Inside Housing’s trump card is its fantastic journalism, which displays campaigning zeal in a world where investigative journalism is a rare commodity. It provides its target audience with a wealth of information, and its relaunched “End our Cladding Scandal” campaign has successfully deployed this unparalleled specialist knowledge more widely.
IBP Journalist of the Year
Winner: Martina Lees, The Sunday Times
When a skilled reporter on a leading publication tackles a big subject, they deserve to be considered for a major award. The plight of flat-owners facing huge bills because of dangerous cladding is a massive story. The Sunday Times has the scale to present that story powerfully. But it requires a journalist who can match the owners’ massive problems and the magnitude of the newspaper’s circulation to do justice to the gravity of this calamity.
Martina Lees rose to that challenge. Indeed, splashing her reports across the front of the paper and on inside pages were key to turning a mere story into a major scandal. A market-leading Sunday paper may have the resources to allow such comprehensive reporting, but that is nothing unless the writer can make the most of such facilities.
Martina delved deeply into the detail of a national disgrace. By interviewing dozens of victims she accumulated the colour that made her features so compelling. And by analysing data she acquired the facts that demonstrate the effect the cladding fears are having on the property market. It is a winning combination of skills: she broke the news and could paint the wider picture.