Citations on behalf of the judges by chairman Brian MacArthur

JOINT WINNERS
Richard Brooks, Private Eye
Early in 2007 Richard Brooks discovered, buried away in a memo submitted to a Public Accounts Committee inquiry into the government’s management of shareholdings in various corporations, a highly valuable but largely unheard of fund management company called Actis. Brooks then wrote a series of articles exposing the sale of a key government international development business to the organisation’s own management for a fraction of its value, and the transformation of an effective development body into a money-making machine for executives at the expense of the world’s poor.

Camilla Cavendish, The Times
The outrageous miscarriages of justice which are being perpetrated on children, because unaccountable social workers are removing them from parents in closed courts with virtually no scrutiny, have been raised before. But in a series of articles for the Times, Camilla Cavendish provided a more detailed analysis of the many injustices which result from the Children Act 1989 and from the professional cultures which have grown up around child “protection”. She did so in a sustained way which will force the authorities to think again. The Times’ wider campaign included several leading articles on various aspects of the issue. Many disparate campaign groups were encouraged to put their links on the Times website, and urged readers to email their MP. Hundreds of readers have done so, and the letters those MPs have written to Jack Straw have put real pressure on the Ministry of Justice.

Shortlisted runners-up:

Andrew Gilligan, Evening Standard, whose investigation exposed the so-called “Lee Jasper affair”, serious financial irregularities in London’s City Hall and the London Development agency, involving a senior aide to the then mayor, Ken Livingstone. The investigation has so far resulted in six police inquiries, seven arrests and Mr Jasper’s resignation and was credited by some, including Mr Livingstone, with his defeat in the recent mayoral election.

Warwick Mansell, Times Educational Supplement, who wrote extensively about the government’s school testing/exams regime, including the first major story on the Sats test marking scandal which led to the late return of thousands of pupils’ test papers and the sacking of test contractor ETS Europe, and the first story bringing together opposition across the education profession to the government’s league tables/targets/testing regime of school accountability.

Dan McDougall, The Observer’s South Asia Correspondent, whose undercover investigations in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh led to the shaming of three of the world’s top five retailers, Esprit, Primark and Gap Inc, for using children in their supply chains. All three firms sacked or fined major suppliers, cancelled millions of pounds worth of contracts and launched multi-million pound social funds.

Jim Oldfield, of Rossington Community Newsletter, South Yorkshire Newspapers, who, long before Fleet Street had ever heard of eco-towns, started chronicling the activities of a group of landowners and speculators to plant one in the village of Rossington – Rossington Eco-Town - apparently against the wishes of 13,000-odd residents.