The Pharmaceutical Journal
Sophie Willis, investigations editor at The Pharmaceutical Journal, has been recognised as ‘Newcomer of the Year’ at the 2025 Avicenna Media Awards, held at Barber-Surgeon’s Hall in London on 31 January 2025.
The judges were impressed with Willis’s “ability to grasp the complexities of the pharmacy sector” at such an early stage in her career as a pharmacy writer, while taking “a different investigative approach to looking into the matters affecting the industry”.
In particular, the judges commended Willis on her work investigating the 20% dropout rate of pharmacy students after their first year of university and her exclusive report on the 67% decrease in overseas pharmacists applying to work in the UK.
The Avicenna ‘Newcomer of the Year’ award is given to a journalist with no more than two years of pharmacy writing experience, who can demonstrate enthusiasm for the industry, while also creating impact and driving debate.
Willis joined The Pharmaceutical Journal’s news and views team in July 2024, having previously worked on the journal’s production team since October 2019.
This is the third year in a row that a journalist from The Pharmaceutical Journal has lauded at the Avicenna Media Awards. Senior features editor Dawn Connelly was awarded ‘Pharmacy Writer of the Year’ in 2024, and Carolyn Wickware, executive editor for news and views, won the same award in 2023.
This is the fourth award win for The Pharmaceutical Journal team within the past year, after winning ‘Best podcast’ at British Society of Magazine Editors awards in June 2024. This was followed by two wins at the Medical Journalists’ Association Awards in September 2024, where Connelly took home the prize for ‘Editor of the Year’, and Wickware won ‘Feature of the Year (specialist audience)’.
