Brighton and Hove local democracy reporter Sarah Booker-Lewis has won a national award for her coverage of the general election.
And the prize for Best Use of Social Media was presented by the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, at the annual Local Democracy Reporting Service Awards in Manchester.
The Brighton and Hove News reporter used Facebook community groups to invite the public to submit questions for local candidates in the parliamentary election which was held on Thursday 4 July.
All the candidates responded and their answers were published by news media outlets serving Brighton and Hove and the wider Sussex area in the run up to polling day.
During the campaign, she reported from hustings, live tweeting the questions and answers on the social media network X, formerly known as Twitter.
These “threads” of individual posts were then “unrolled” using Threadreader so that the posts from each hustings could be read as a story.
On election night, she posted photographs and videos on X, Facebook and Instagram as she kept people informed about the count for the three constituencies in Brighton and Hove.
And in the early hours, she correctly predicted the results for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, Brighton Pavilion and Hove and Portslade. Her coverage received acclaim from politicians and the public.
Mrs Booker-Lewis, 53, said: “I was thrilled to get the top prize for social media. It was great to have such a positive response from my colleagues around the country, too.
“The annual awards are very competitive and reaching the final three is tough so being the overall winner is very exciting.”
She was a runner up in the social media category last year and the year before as well as in the freedom of information (FoI) category last year.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service was set up and is funded by the BBC, working with suppliers from the local news sector, including Brighton and Hove News.
The scheme has provided more than 440,000 stories up and down the country since it started in 2018 including thousands about Brighton and Hove City Council.
They are available for the BBC and any of the 1,000+ members of the BBC Local News Partnership to publish for free. The news partners include TV and radio stations, newspapers and news websites.
Mrs Booker-Lewis is one of 165 local democracy reporters, each employed by a publisher in their respective area and covering their local councils.
She is one of the longest-serving local democracy reporters, having joined Brighton and Hove News in May 2018. She has worked as a news journalist for 25 years.
Her work as a local democracy reporter has been published by the BBC and news partners including The Argus, Sussex World and More Radio.
Brighton and Hove News said: ““We’re very proud of Sarah and delighted that her hard work has been recognised with this well-deserved award.”
Well done Sarah !
Very well done Sarah.
Sarah does a lot to bring articles of us to talk about. This was a well deserved award.