The Pharmaceutical Journal’s Nigel Praities wins Avicenna’s ‘Pharmacy Writer of the Year’ award

Nigel Praities, executive editor of The Pharmaceutical Journal, has been recognised as ‘Pharmacy Writer of the Year’ at the 2019 Avicenna Media Awards. Praities received the award during a ceremony held at the Royal Society of Chemistry on 25 January 2019.

A panel of independent judges recognised Praities for his work including interviews with Keith Ridge, chief pharmaceutical officer for England, and Simon Dukes, chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC), as well as commentary on racial disparities in pass rates for the General Pharmaceutical Council’s preregistration exam. Avicenna said that “his win was secured by what the judges considered to be a real triumph — Keith Ridge’s admission of regret at the cuts to our sector”.

Praities joined The Pharmaceutical Journal in April 2018. Prior to his current role he spent ten years at Pulse, a magazine for GPs, including four years as editor.

‘Pharmacy Writer of the Year’ is Praities’s fifth journalism award: in 2014, and again in 2017, he was recognised as ‘Editor of the Year’ by the Medical Journalists’ Association. The British Society of Magazine Editors also conferred the title of ‘Editor of the Year’ on Praities for two consecutive years in 2015 and 2016.

Speaking of his latest award, he said it was “an honour to be recognised by the pharmacy sector in this way and against such tough competition”.

“It is the job of a journalist to hold those in power to account, and this award is a real encouragement to carry on doing that in my role at The Pharmaceutical Journal,” he said.

“We are really pleased that Nigel is receiving this recognition,” said Tony Scully, publisher of The Pharmaceutical Journal. “Nigel is a committed journalist, always seeking to understand the biggest issues and provide our members with telling insights, and with no little passion for the role that pharmacy has in caring for patients.”