Special praise for her David Walliams scoop

Guardian comedy writer Rachael Healy has won a British Journalism Award for her work.

Her pieces in the last year included the scoop that David Walliams was recorded making derogatory remarks about Britain's Got Talent contestants – which judges praised as ‘a big talking point at the time and well executed. This was the definition of a good story, something a powerful person does not want in a newspaper’.

Her entry for the awards, backed by the Press Gazette, also included interviews with Edinburgh Fringe acts giving their verdict on whether the festival was worth it, and reports on ‘the ugly new side’ of misbehaving theatre audiences.

Writing on X, Healy  said: ‘ What an honour to win this award last night. Still in disbelief. Thank you to the @guardian for backing these stories.’

She won the arts & entertainment category ahead of the Daily Mirror’s Ashleigh Rainbird for a series of stories about David Jason meeting the daughter he never knew he head.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">What an honour to win this award last night. Still in disbelief. Thank you to the <a href="https://twitter.com/guardian?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@guardian</a> for backing these stories. <a href="https://t.co/AqeVno90BG">https://t.co/AqeVno90BG</a></p>&mdash; Rachael Healy (@ohrhealy) <a href="https://twitter.com/ohrhealy/status/1735572614083432620?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Published: 15 Dec 2023