St Mary's Proud to Sponsor Sports Journalist of the Year

The MA Sports Journalism programme at St Mary’s University, Twickenham was proud to sponsor the Sports Journalism Award at the British Journalism Awards.

The annual ceremony, hosted by the Press Gazette on Tuesday 7^th December was held in Stationer’s Hall in Central London. The awards brought together leading journalistic talent from across the country to celebrate their work and award prizes in a variety of categories.

The winner of the Sports Journalism Award was the Daily Mail’s Matt Lawton for two articles, Coe Misled MPs over doping at the Olympics and Now GB cyclist fails drugs test. The judges said of Matt Lawton, “This was brave, must-read journalism. Naming a leading British cyclist who had missed drugs tests on the eve the Olympics changed the story of British cycling. Matt Lawton is a sports journalist who is not afraid to investigate his own patch – his access was fantastic and he knows his subject inside out.”

Speaking of the awards, St Mary’s Senior Director for Global Engagement Mark Sudbury said, “We were delighted to have the opportunity to sponsor these awards. Journalism is one of the corner stones of democracy and the awards are a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the amazing work journalists do in holding society to account.”

Programme Director for MA Sports Journalism Dr Daragh Minogue added, “Awards like these are great inspiration for our students. I was delighted to introduce three of our current cohort to some of the country’s leading journalists. I have no doubt that our graduates will be collecting awards themselves at this ceremony in years to come.”

Based in leafy Strawberry Hill, St Mary’s is London’s safest university. Known for its excellence in sport, ranked London’s no 1 university, St Mary’s saw 23 athletes attend the Rio 2016 Games, winning nine medals, which would rank the University as the 25th country in the world in the Olympics.

The MA Sports Journalism was the first in the UK to be professionally accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists. Students are taught by former journalists and current practitioners, and have access to work placements at national print and broadcast organisations.

Graduates from the programme have a strong employability record, with alumni winning awards and working at the BBC, Sky Sports News, and BT Sport, amongst many others.