News

UK: Medical Journalism Awards showcase best in field

15 November, 2006

The winners of the prestigious Medical Journalism Awards were announced at a ceremony in London last night (14 November 2006).

The winners, who came from a wide range of national, regional and trade media, showcase the best of healthcare journalism and its critical role that it plays in educating and informing audiences.

The awards are now in their fifteenth year of sponsorship by Norwich Union Healthcare and are administered in conjunction with the Medical Journalists’ Association.

Gil Baldwin, managing director of Norwich Union Healthcare, said: “Norwich Union is delighted to sponsor the Medical Journalism Awards again this year as it is a great way to highlight the efforts of the journalists. Their role in portraying the developments in health and medicine to readers and to make complex subjects interesting and relevant to people’s daily lives is invaluable.

"I add my congratulations to the winners and look forward to seeing next year’s entries.”

Norwich Union Healthcare Medical Journalism Awards winners for 2006:

General medical

Consumer news

• Ł1,000 first prize – Sarah Hall, Norwich Evening News, “Clean up your act to fight superbug".

Consumer feature

• Ł1,000 first prize – Jo Revill, Observer, "Miracle workers who rebuilt Danny's life"
• Special commendation – Rory Clements, Evening Standard, "They told me I was to blame for the illness that was killing my son".

Trade news

• Ł1,000 first prize – Daniel Cressey, Pulse, "Mass opt-out fear as rule change hits child vaccine pay"
• Special commendation – Helen Mooney, Health Service Journal, "Treatment centre programme in disarray as contracts axed".

Trade feature

• Ł1,000 first prize – Amena Saleem, Doctor, "So why is this practice being put out to tender?".

Best newcomer

• Ł750 prize – Pamela McGowan, News and Star Cumbria, "Dead: after 8-hour wait for oxygen".

Financing healthcare

Consumer

• Ł1,000 first prize – Emma Brady, Birmingham Post, “IVF cycle remains a lottery”
• Special commendation – Dave Masters, The Sun Online, “We Win Ł27m for Hospices”.

Trade

• Ł1,000 first prize – Johanna Gornitzki, Cover, "Putting a price on life".

Best newcomer

• Ł750 prize – Stephanie Denton, Post Magazine, “Casualty rates - NHS Clawbacks”.

Broadcast – TV

• Ł1,000 first prize – Ross McWilliam, BBC Scotland, "Great health divide"
• Special commendation – Kirsty Hemming, ITV West Eye View, "Sick of waiting".

Broadcast - Radio

• Ł1,000 first prize – Matthew Chapman, BBC Five Live, "Quack qualifications"
• Special commendation – Michelle Martin, BBC Radio 4, “Inside the ethics committee".

-ends-

Media contacts:
Melanie Corbett or Emilie Lien, Lexis Public Relations on 020 7908 6488.

Press office contacts:
Cheryl Cox 01904 452791 Out of hours 07800 695 275
Louise Soulsby 01904 452617 Out of hours 07800 699 526
Rob Pell 01904 452659

Notes to editors:

About Norwich Union Healthcare
Norwich Union Healthcare was founded in 1990 as the healthcare arm of Norwich Union and now provides a range of income protection and private medical insurance products that cover over 870,000 lives. It is one of the largest providers of income protection and private medical insurance in the UK.

Norwich Union Healthcare provide occupational health solutions services to a wide range of industry sectors. By utilising the large fleet of purpose built mobile clinics and approved medical centres, staffed by a team of experienced occupational physicians and nursing staff, all the occupational health services are designed to meet the individual needs of their clients.

Norwich Union Healthcare is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and is a member of the Association of British Insurers and the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Norwich Union’s news releases and a selection of images are available from Aviva’s internet press centre at www.aviva.com/media.

About The Medical Journalists' Association
The MJA is an independent professional association for anyone who writes, edits or produces material on health or medicine in the media. The current membership includes medical and healthcare journalists, as well as doctors, nurses and therapists, contributing to national and provincial newspapers, specialist, business and consumer magazines, radio and television, the web and books. www.mja-uk.org.