Wales OnLine & Western Mail journalist Will Hayward (PICTURED) took top honours at the annual Journalists’ Charity Wales Media Awards www.walesmediaawards.co.uk, held live last night (25 March 2022) for the first time in three years.
Dozens of Welsh publications, websites, radio stations and TV channels were vying for one of the most sought-after awards in UK journalism with over 60 reporters, photographers, camera operators and editors shortlisted in 20 categories.
Will Hayward was named Journalist of the Year 2022 as well as Feature Writer of the Year, Newspaper Journalist of the Year and Political Journalist of the Year.
Chairman of the Wales Media Awards judging panel, emeritus editor of the Press Association Jonathan Grun, said Hayward produced “brilliant journalism at a time of national crisis and catastrophe which spoke up for ordinary people, explored the detail to expose inequalities and demanded answers from those in power. In a year when all journalists across Wales rose to the challenge of a lifetime, Will showed why a free press is important to society.”
Former BBC Wales and ITV Wales reporter-turned-TV-executive Clare Hudson was awarded the Outstanding Contribution Award at the ceremony in Cardiff.
The prestigious Awards aim to highlight the importance of a free and vibrant press and celebrate the quality of reporting coming out of Wales.
The event also paid tribute to the work of reporters in war-torn Ukraine with a pre-recorded video address from one of the county’s top journalists.
Vadym Karpiak, who hosts the political talk show ‘Freedom of Speech’, has been working and living in the programme’s television studios in Kyiv after Russian shelling of his home forced him and his family to evacuate.
“These few weeks of working in a bomb shelter under missile attacks have taught me one simple thing,” he said. “At war, thoughts become clearer and words become sharper.
“When you are this close to death, you become very sensitive to other people’s grief and happiness. This very sensitiveness towards other people is now the sense of journalism to me. Because any journalist must not only stick to the standards but have a heart too. They only work when combined.”
To view the video of Vadym, click here.
The Awards are organised on behalf of the Journalists’ Charity – which supports working and retired journalists in urgent need with advice, grants and other forms of financial assistance – by Spencer David with the support of headline sponsor Camelot. Other sponsors are Cardiff University, Celf Creative, Cleartech Live, Cowshed, ITV Cymru Wales, Mercure Holland House Hotel, Cardiff Natasha Hirst Photography, National Union of Journalists, NUJ Training Wales, Openreach, S4C, Spencer David and Welsh Government.
Tim Rogers, chair of the Journalists’ Charity in Wales, said almost 200 entries had been received for the competition this year.
He said that even with the pandemic taking its toll on revenues and businesses, the media fought hard to deliver news and information and to maintain the tradition and value of a free press which many other countries around the world could not take for granted.
“The Journalists’ Charity Wales Media Awards are a celebration of the best of Welsh journalism – a showcase for some of the finest work online, in print, on TV and radio during the last 12 months,” he said.
“Even in the best of times journalists play an important role keeping us informed and in touch. Never has that work been more vital than during the last two years of the Covid pandemic.
“For some, these will have been, to borrow a phrase from our founder Charles Dickens, the ‘worst of times’ that have brought personal challenges and the loss of family members or friends. For others there has been uncertainty of employment. For many, the Journalists’ Charity has been ready and willing to help.”
The full list of Award winners is:
Magazine of the Year
Sponsored by The Journalists’ Charity
Western Mail Weekend magazine
Camera Operator of the Year
Sponsored by Celf
Tom Brown, BBC Sport Wales
Independent Community Journalism
Sponsored by ITV Cymru Wales
Cwmbran Life
Feature Writer of the Year
Sponsored by S4C
Will Hayward, Wales OnLine & Western Mail
Columnist of the Year
Sponsored by Mercure Holland House Hotel
Sara Robinson, Western Mail
Photographer of the Year
Sponsored by Natasha Hirst Photography
Joann Randles, Cover Images
Vlog/Blog of the Year
Chris Knight, ohwhataknight.co.uk
Newspaper Journalist of the Year
Will Hayward, Wales OnLine & Western Mail
Audio News Journalist of the Year
Sponsored by The Journalists’ Charity
Mark Hutchings, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 5 Live
TV Journalist of the Year
Sponsored by Spencer David
Rob Osborne, ITV Cymru Wales
News Website of the Year
Sponsored by Openreach
BBC Cymru Fyw
Daily/Sunday Newspaper of the Year
Sponsored by Cowshed Communication
South Wales Echo
Weekly Newspaper of the Year
Powys County Times
Specialist Journalist of the Year
Sponsored by Welsh Government
Hannah Thomas, ITV Cymru Wales
Political Journalist of the Year
Will Hayward, Wales OnLine & Western Mail
Audio News & Current Affairs Programme of the Year
Sponsored by Cleartech
BBC Radio Cymru – Dros Frecwast
Sports Journalist of the Year
Sponsored by School of Journalism, Media and Culture, Cardiff University
David Owens, Nation Cymru
Ed Townsend Student Journalist of the Year
Sponsored by National Union of Journalists
Nest Jenkins, Cardiff University CJS News
TV News & Current Affairs Programme of the Year
ITV Cymru Wales – Coronavirus: A Care Home’s Story
Young Journalist of the Year
Sponsored by NUJ Training Wales
Joe Robinson, Flintshire & Wrexham Leader
Journalist of the Year
Sponsored by Camelot
Will Hayward, Wales OnLine & Western Mail
Outstanding contribution
Clare Hudson