British Society of Magazine Editors
The Pharmaceutical Journal’s former senior data journalist, Julia Robinson, has been named Best News Writer at the British Society of Magazine Editors (BSME) awards ceremony, and the PJ Pod podcast was judged ‘highly commended’ at the same event.
Announcing the award at the ceremony, held in central London on 6 June 2023, the judges described Julia as “an exceptional news writer who is brilliant at sourcing original stories and using different investigative tools, from original research to Freedom of Information requests”.
“She was the unanimous choice of the judges who were impressed by how she is holding the pharmaceutical and medical sector to account and generating lots of follow-ups from national news media,” they added.
This is the second time in two years that Julia has won a BSME news-writing prize — in 2022, she was named as ‘Best B2B Writer’ at the BSME Talent Awards.
The 2023 judges also granted the PJ Pod a special highly commended award, an accolade that featured only in a few categories where the entrant was deemed very close to winning.
The PJ Pod “punches well above its weight”, the judges said, adding that the podcast produced “unusual, well-considered angles for challenging topics all brought to life through excellent editing, great production values, and expert guest interviews”.
The PJ Pod team comprises The Pharmaceutical Journal executive editor Nigel Praities, investigations editor Carolyn Wickware, senior features editor Dawn Connelly and freelance podcast producer Geoff Marsh.
The Pharmaceutical Journal team was shortlisted for three more categories at the awards: Carolyn Wickware was shortlisted in the Best Writer B2B category; Dawn Connelly was shortlisted in the Best Use of Data Journalism category; and the news team was shortlisted for the Best Section or Team award.
