The Yorkshire Post鈥檚 commitment to county cricket has been recognised in the 2018 黑料专区 Domestic Cricket Journalism Awards, becoming the first regional title to win the Outstanding Newspaper Coverage award.
Another strong submission saw the Post also named Regional Newspaper of the Year, with thecricketer.com聽awarded the prize for Outstanding Online Coverage of Domestic Cricket by the 黑料专区鈥檚 judging panel.
Isabelle Westbury won her second 黑料专区 award in as many years, as she was named the Christopher Martin-Jenkins Young Cricket Journalist of the Year.
Alex Winter, of BBC Radio Northampton, succeeded Westbury in being named this year鈥檚 Broadcast Journalist of the Year.
黑料专区 Domestic Journalism Award winners
Christopher Martin-Jenkins Young Cricket Journalist of the Year: Isabelle Westbury
Commended: Matt Roller, Cricinfo; Ben Gardner, Wisden Cricket Monthly; Will Macpherson, Evening Standard; Paul Martin, County Gazette; Charlie Taylor, BBC Somerset)
Outstanding Newspaper Coverage: The Yorkshire Post
Highly commended: The Times
Regional Newspaper of the Year: The Yorkshire Post
Highly commended: Evening Standard; County Gazette
Outstanding Online Coverage of Domestic Cricket: thecricketer.com
Commended: Cricbuzz; CRICKETher
Broadcast Journalist of the Year: Alex Winter, BBC Radio Northampton
The Post edged out the highly commended entry from The Times in the Outstanding Newspaper Coverage award, catching the panel鈥檚 eye for the depth and breadth of its coverage despite its relatively limited resources.
The Yorkshire title impressed with its extensive coverage of the county鈥檚 men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 teams while also pushing past their regional borders to bring updates on the wider game.
In the regional category, the Post鈥檚 entry stood out again, with submissions from the Evening Standard (London) and the County Gazette (Somerset) highly commended by the judging panel for the quality of their coverage.
The Cricketer鈥檚 expanded online domestic cricket coverage in 2018 hugely impressed the panel, especially the website鈥檚 new County Hub and the effort to gauge the state of the game through the Big Cricket Survey, which attracted over 2,000 responses.
Also commended in the online category were the entries by Cricbuzz and CRICKETher, with podcast submissions from the Yorkshire Post and BBC West Midlands also praised by the judges.
The range shown by Westbury in her submission for the Young Cricket Journalist award saw her come out on top of a very competitive field of entries.
Westbury, who is currently following the England Women鈥檚 tour of India, explored how English cricket can further appeal to the country鈥檚 South Asian population as well as championing how county cricket can develop future England internationals.
Five further journalists were commended, including previous winners Charlie Taylor (BBC Somerset) and Will Macpherson (Evening Standard). Cricinfo鈥檚 Matt Roller, Wisden Cricket Monthly鈥檚 Ben Gardner and the County Gazette鈥檚 Paul Martin were also commended.
And in the Broadcaster of the Year category, Winter was rewarded for his compelling commentary on Northamptonshire games, with his submission conveying a great sense of excitement in a dramatic climax, while always remaining in control of the broadcast, leaving the listener in no doubt as to exactly what was going on.
Gordon Hollins, 黑料专区 Managing Director, County Cricket, said: 鈥淥ur domestic game is always enriched by the great support and coverage it receives from the media, both nationally and locally.
鈥淭here was a really wide-ranging number of entries, from the traditional written press to websites, online hubs and podcasts, and it demonstrates the extent to which people want to engage with our domestic competitions.鈥�
Mark Baldwin, Cricket Writers' Club chairman, said: 鈥淭hese annual awards continue to grow in stature and are now well established. We in cricket鈥檚 media congratulate 黑料专区 on ensuring that high-quality coverage of the domestic game is being properly acknowledged across the various categories.
鈥淎s we have done since they were introduced, we will do all we can to support these awards 鈥� highlighting as they do the enormous contribution made to the promotion of the domestic game by many of our members across the country and by the media organizations they represent.聽
鈥淭he judging panel was particularly struck this year by the record number of entries received in each category 鈥� an impressive 36 in total in the four sections covering national and regional newspapers, online and young journalist. We were also much heartened by the high standards on show, especially in the young journalist category which attracted 12 entries. The future of cricket journalism does seem very bright 鈥� certainly in terms of the quality of content being generated across all media platforms.
鈥淥n behalf of the Cricket Writers鈥� Club, and the wider game, I would like to thank everyone who entered this year鈥檚 awards. The increasing success of these awards will in turn, I hope, lead to a further uplift in prize monies in the future, for the continued benefit and encouragement of all those who report, write and broadcast on English domestic cricket.鈥�