MJA winners

No British Journalism Awards ceremony is complete without MJA members among the winners — and this year it’s congratulations to Rebecca Thomas, of the Independent, and Emily Townsend from the HSJ, who won awards for Health and Life Sciences Journalism and Specialist Journalism respectively.

Huge impact

The judges said Rebecca provided “three significant examples of dogged journalism which had huge impact”.

• Revealed: NHS regulator’s ‘culture of fear’ that leaves rogue nurses free to abuse patients
• Nicholas’s story: ‘I’ve been locked up for 10 years because I’m autistic. Is a chance at life too much to ask?’
• Mental health patients ‘raped and sexually assaulted’ as NHS abuse scandal revealed

Rebecca’s exposé of sexual assaults in NHS hospitals also won Mental Health Story of the Year at this year’s MJA awards.

Double winner

Emily is also a double winner, being named Newcomer of the Year and the MJA Awards and taking the prize for Specialist Journalism at the British Journalism Awards for three pieces:

• Midwives call women in labour ‘Asian princesses’ amid ‘hostile’ environment fears
• Over 30 sepsis deaths linked to ‘systemic’ failings, investigation reveals
• Revealed: Doubling of average waits for critical stroke treatments

As the judges said: “A great range of stories tackling tough subjects, all well researched and genuinely impactful.”

MJA Awards

Preliminary planning is already underway for the 2025 MJA Awards, our annual celebration of excellence and the health and medical journalism that makes a real difference to people’s lives. Click here for video highlights of this year’s ceremony.

And we’re delighted to report that a number of 2024 sponsors have already confirmed their continuing support — we’ll share more details in the new year. Click here if you’d like to know more about partnering with the MJA and supporting the Oscars of health and medical journalism.