Celebrating Great Journalism - 19 April

Welcome to the second edition of our weekly round-up of impactful journalism from across our 120+ trusted brands, from national titles like the Mirror, Express, Daily Record and Daily Star, to local brands like MyLondon, BelfastLive and the Manchester Evening News.

Across our newsrooms this week we’ve covered war, a poignant anniversary, political scandals, major sporting events - and Liz Truss on the Daily Star’s infamous lettuce.?

Lizzie Lettuce returns

Former prime minister Liz Truss, promoting her book about her time as PM this week, commented that only the London elite cares about the fact she was outlived in office by the Daily Star’s Lizzie Lettuce.

The Daily Star dusted down the lettuce for an unexpected front page comeback on Wednesday.

Award wins

Many of our journalists attended the Regional Press Awards in London on Tuesday, where we had a total of 53 nominations for our individual journalists or titles.

WalesOnline’s Conor Gogarty picked up Specialist Reporter of the Year for his undercover investigation into high-pressure cold-calling firms in Cardiff, while WalesOnline won Scoop of the Year for the same hidden camera expose.?

The Manchester Evening News won Campaign of the Year for Awaab’s Law. After exposing unacceptable conditions on a housing estate that led to the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, the M.E.N campaigned with Shelter and secured a change in the law.?

And the Public Notices Portal, built by the InYourArea team on behalf of the News Media Association, won Digital Initiative of the Year for its role in helping secure a digital future for a vital revenue scheme.?

At last night’s Press Awards for National titles, former Mirror editor Alison Phillips won Tabloid Interviewer of the Year for her poignant interviews with TV presenter Fiona Phillips in the Mirror. The Mirror’s Tom Bryant was also highly commended in the same category for his Men in Mind series about men’s mental health.?

Congratulations to all of our winners and nominees.?

Delivering for readers on Saturday

When Iran launched missiles and drones at Israel on Saturday, our UK and US teams worked hand-in-hand throughout the night to deliver live blogs on the Mirror and Express sites on both sides of the Atlantic.?

Manchester Evening News political writer Joseph Tilman was even closer to the story; whilst attending a wedding in Israel, he reported this first-hand account of what it was like waiting for the missiles to arrive . He is now safely back home in the UK.

Elsewhere on Saturday evening, the Express’s investigations editor Zak Garner-Purkis broke the first of his exclusive stories exposing how Albanian criminals are promoting illegal activities in the UK via social media. His work also included this 30-minute documentary published on YouTube .

Marking the 35th anniversary of Hillsborough?

This week, the Liverpool Echo marked the 35th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. Since 1989, the Echo has stood alongside bereaved families and reflected the city of Liverpool’s fight to overcome injustice.?

For this year’s anniversary, the Echo produced a moving look back at its coverage over the years through the eyes of the journalists responsible for diligently and sensitively reporting on the tragedy, from the day itself through all the subsequent campaigns and inquests.

Mayoral election hustings

With the upcoming mayoral elections across the country, hustings have been held at many of our newsrooms including the Manchester Evening News, and ChronicleLive in Newcastle. BirminghamLive hosted a special online event with all six mayoral candidates who answered questions directly from readers.

Also in Birmingham, politics and people editor Jane Haynes broke the story of a Conservative councillor who shared insulting and Islamophobic social media posts . Cllr Rick Payne has agreed to stand down from his role on Birmingham City Council.?

Big ticket sports

Our coverage of the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, USA, has been a particularly big hit with US audiences on our .com sites. Tom Bristow and Neil McLeman were on the ground, delivering this exclusive on how Tiger Woods is making his comeback to the tournament .

Meanwhile, Saturday’s Grand National coverage was very popular with readers of the Mirror, Daily Star and Liverpool Echo, whose fashion affiliate writer Emily Sleight was also a Style Award judge at Aintree this year.

Thanks for reading, we’ll be back with more highlights next week so please subscribe and share this newsletter with your network.