The Paul Foot Award 2024
The Shortlist
The 2024 shortlist was chosen from a record number of entries, to reflect Paul Foot's life-long drive to uncover injustice, from dubious local government dealings to the silencing and persecution of the most powerless in society.
Pádraig Reidy, chair of the judges, said: "The volume and quality of this year's entries made the shortlist selection difficult but enormously edifying for the judges. Knowing that there are so many reporters, both experienced and new to the trade, working so hard to uncover challenging stories should give us all faith that great journalism will always happen so long as there are people with the will, wit and tenacity to do it."
The judging panel, which included last year's winner David Conn, along with Matt Foot, Helen Lewis, Janine Gibson, Francis Wheen, Kim Sengupta, Julia Langdon and Sir Simon Jenkins, selected the following shortlist, in alphabetical order:
Antonia Cundy, Madison Marriage, Paul Caruana Galizia
FT/Tortoise
Investigation into Crispin Odey
Cundy, Marriage and Caruana Galizia told the story of alleged sexual abuse and bullying by Crispin Odey, for decades a larger-than-life character in the finance world.
Tristan Kirk
Evening Standard
Single justice procedure: conveyor belt justice
Kirk's reporting illustrated how the "single justice procedure" makes justice impossible for people without the means or wherewithal to challenge the system, creating a conveyor belt system that has removed humanity and fairness from the law.
Anthony Lane, Humberto J Rocha
OPIS
Stopping carbon windfalls for big polluters closing plants
The OPIS (Oil Price Information Service) team exposed how carbon windfall credits paid out by the British and EU governments resulted in big polluters making millions by cutting jobs and closing plants.
Lewis McBlane
The Northern Scot
A96 dualling: a Moray cover-up
McBlane revealed how plans for the development of the A96 between Aberdeen and Inverness, dubbed the most unpopular road in Scotland, were quietly dropped by the SNP government.
Justine Smith
The House magazine
CAMHS in crisis
Smith's FoI-led investigation was a compelling and important read, putting the plight of vulnerable children right in front of MPs in parliament's trade magazine. The findings were reported across national media.
Rebecca Thomas
The Independent
Failures in the UK mental health system
Campaigning journalism exposing the failures in the UK mental health system, which focused on telling the stories in suffering patients' own words.
Queries
Queries should be directed to:
Emily Laidlaw
Midas PR
Tel: 07384 268 734
Email: Emily.Laidlaw@midaspr.co.uk
Paul Foot, an investigative journalist, editor and left-wing campaigner, worked variously for the Daily Record, the Daily Mirror, The Guardian and Private Eye. He was involved in many high-profile campaigns throughout his illustrious career, including the Birmingham Six, the Bridgewater Four and the John Poulson scandal. His accolades include the Journalist of the Year, the Campaigning Journalist of the Year, the George Orwell Prize for Journalism and in 2000 he was honoured as the Campaigning Journalist of the Decade.
Paul Foot died in 2004 at the age of 66.
Nigeria's crypto concerns
Burning issue
Old Sparky on the government's "irrational" net zero plan
Legal get-out
More dodging of responsibility at the Post Office
Read these stories and much more - only in the magazine. Subscribe here to get delivery direct to your home and never miss an issue!