Sky News has been named News Channel of the Year for the seventh consecutive year at the Royal Television Society journalism awards – as political editor Beth Rigby was awarded Political Journalist of the Year.
The jury said Sky was given the award for “the comprehensive way it covered the main news stories of the year both in the UK and around the world”.
Rigby was described as “the stand-out winner” among stiff competition as she was named Political Journalist of the Year.
“She is always exciting to watch and her packaging is excellent, always asking the questions we are all yelling at the telly,” the jury said.
Sky News political editor Beth Rigby
Sky News and its partner Tortoise Media were also awarded the Innovation Award for their “pioneering work” on the Westminster Accounts, a publicly available tool to give voters the chance to explore how much their MP earned above their base salary since the last election, how much they have declared in donations – and from whom.
The jury praised their “public service journalism that opened up an opaque world, was innovative and made available to everyone.”
Jonathan Levy, Sky News executive editor, said: “Thirty-five years on it’s great that the Sky News team is still getting recognised for its breaking news, eyewitness journalism and explanation and analysis.
“In an increasingly competitive field we never take anything for granted.”
Presenter Kay Burley said: “Thirty-five years of breaking news. Nothing has changed and everything has changed.
“We continue to nurture the insatiable beast of rolling TV news. Now we also feed podcasts and digital journalism to a global audience of tens of millions.
“We’re grateful to the judges for recognising our continued contribution in this competitive field where we’re kept constantly on our toes; we never take anything for granted.”
Other winners included Good Morning Britain’s Susanna Reid, who was named Network Presenter of the Year, while Martin Lewis was honoured with the RTS Special Award.
Hardcash Productions was given two awards for its investigation Russell Brand: In Plain Sight, which aired on Channel 4’s Dispatches.
Channel 4 News was named Network Daily News Programme of the Year, while BBC World won the international news coverage award and ITV News took home the award for home news coverage.
