Rifkind a winner in comment media awards competition

THE Scots columnist, Hugo Rifkind has been recognised in a media awards competition celebrating ‘comment’.

The Times columnist – who also writes for The Spectator and GQ magazines – has been named winner of the Media Commentator category in the Comment Awards, run by Editorial Intelligence, which describes itself as a “knowledge networking business”.

Rifkind was a columnist on The Herald until he joined The Times seven years ago.

Meanwhile, the young Scots pupil, whose blog about school food became an internet sensation after her local authority tried to ban it, was named runner-up in the Independent Blogger category.

Martha Payne’s blog, www.neverseconds.blogspot.co.uk, has so far raised £120,000 for the charity, Mary’s Meals. It shot to prominence after Argyll and Bute Council initially appeared to take exception to its content. Recently, Martha visited Malawi where – with a BBC Scotland TV crew in tow – she visited a feeding project run by Mary’s Meals.

The winners and runners-up were as follows:

Best Online Comment Site

Coffee House, The Spectator – Winner

Comment is Free, The Guardian and Observer

New Statesman

The Sunday Times

Business Commentator

Michael Skapinker, Financial Times – Winner

Christopher Caldwell, Financial Times

Anthony Hilton, London Evening Standard and The Independent

Cultural Commentator

Christopher Hitchens, Vanity Fair – Winner

Caitlin Moran, The Times

Will Self, New Statesman

Economics Commentator

Roger Bootle, The Daily Telegraph – Winner

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, The Daily Telegraph

Martin Wolf CBE, Financial Times

Foreign Commentator

Marie Colvin, The Sunday Times – Winner

Patrick Cockburn, The Independent on Sunday

Christopher Hitchens, Vanity Fair

Donald Macintyre, The Independent

Independent Blogger

Mic Wright, www.brokenbottleboy.tumblr.com – Winner

Emma Burnell, www.scarletstandard.co.uk

Martha Payne, www.neverseconds.blogspot.co.uk

Mainstream Media Blogger

Andrew Sparrow, The Guardian – Winner

Ellie-Mae O’Hagan, The Guardian

Rowenna Davis, New Statesman

Media Commentator

Hugo Rifkind, The Times – Winner

Peter Preston, The Observer

Gideon Spanier, London Evening Standard

Michael Wolff, The Guardian and GQ

Political Commentator

Tim Montgomerie, The Times – Winner

Philip Collins, The Times

Matthew d’Ancona, The Sunday Telegraph, GQ and the London Evening Standard

Sketch Commentator

Ann Treneman, The Times – Winner

Quentin Letts, The Daily Mail

Simon Hoggart, The Guardian and The Spectator

Columnist of the Year

Janet Street-Porter, The Independent on Sunday – Winner

Rosamund Urwin, London Evening Standard

Toby Young, The Sun and The Spectator

Sports Commentator

Simon Barnes, The Times – Winner

Mike Atherton, The Times

Martin Samuel, The Daily Mail

Twitter Politician

Tom Watson MP, @tom_watson – Winner

Louise Mensch MP, @LouiseMensch

Diane Abbott MP, @HackneyAbbott

Twitter Public Personality

Laurie Penny, @PennyRed – Winner

Toby Young, @toadmeister

Deborah Orr, @DeborahJaneOrr

Best Comment Pages

The Times – Winner

Financial Times

London Evening Standard

Commentariat of the Year

David Aaronovitch, The Times – Winner

Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian

Suzanne Moore, The Mail on Sunday and The Guardian

Chair’s Choice

AA Gill, The Sunday Times