We are proud to announce that the Cudlipp Award winner will this year be announced at the London Press Club’s Award Lunch.
The Cudlipp Award, named after the Mirror Group’s famous editor and editorial director of the 1940s-1960s, was launched by the British Journalism Review shortly after Lord Hugh Cudlipp died at the age of 84 in 1998. Since then it has become one of the most prized acknowledgements of superb journalism. And now, for the first time, it is on the move.
Awarded for campaigning zeal and investigative skill, the Cudlipp prize will join the London Press Club’s own set of journalism honours. As it always has, the Cudlipp will be independently judged and the winner or winners will receive one of the grandest and unique trophies to be awarded in journalistic competition, a life-size reversed metal facsimile of one of Cudlipp’s most famous Daily Mirror front pages, created when Nikita Khrushchev walked out of the 1960 Paris summit conference.
‘MR K! (if you will pardon an olde English phrase) DON’T BE SO BLOODY RUDE!’ it warned. Handsomely framed, the page carries a tiny PS: Who do you think you are? Stalin?
Only one such award is made each year, no matter how many journalists are involved in the winning article or campaign, which is one reason why the competition to win it is so fierce.
Bill Hagerty, chairman emeritus and former editor of the British Journalism Review, hailed the change of affiliation for the award: “We have for some time been uneasy that an entry fee was charged for the award, as with many of those which now crowd the journalistic landscape. We are delighted to be joining the London Press Club’s much-admired awards, where no such handicap exists for those companies or individuals wishing to enter. The LPC has pursued a policy of independent judging for years, which is another reason why the BJR has decided to ally itself with what is already the fairest and most accessible awards in the trade.”
Doug Wills, chair of London Press Club, said: “This is excellent news. This brings together two of the most-respected awards in the industry. We are very proud that the Cudlipp team have chosen the Press Club as the Award’s new home.”
As with all the Press Club awards, entries are not required for the Cudlipp, although submissions are welcomed from editors and individual journalists and will be considered if sent by 6 September to info@londonpressclub.co.uk from where they will be forwarded to the judges.