Reach and ITV also celebrate big wins at North West event

A journalist who suffered “catastrophic” brain injuries in an unprovoked street attack, but fought back to return to the job he calls “his passion” was given a standing ovation by guests at this year’s O2 Media Awards North West.

Sports writer Gary Carter, was in a coma for six weeks after being punched to the ground in London where he was covering an England rugby league international in 2015. He spent four years in rehabilitation, learning how to walk and talk again, before joining the editorial team at Local Communications Limited, publishers of the Saddleworth Independent, to rediscover his writing and interview skills.

Carter, who began his career on the Tameside Reporter before stints at the Lancashire Telegraph, Manchester Evening News and The Sun, was awarded an O2 Stand Out Award for his courage and determination.

An O2 Stand Out also went to Liverpool-born broadcaster Eddie Hemmings to mark his 30 plus years in the industry with the BBC and Sky Sports. Hemmings, who stepped down as the voice of Rugby League earlier this year received tributes from former colleagues Harry Gration of Look North and Sky Sports’ Jeff Stelling and Martin Tyler as well as a host of former star players.

More than 300 journalists and media professionals from the North West attended the event at the AJ Bell Stadium in Manchester.

Big winners on the night were the Liverpool Echo who won five award categories including Daily Newspaper and On-Line. Echo political editor Liam Thorp beat more than 50 news reporters from across the region to be crowned News Reporter of the year. ITV Granada Reports also took home five awards including an O2 for presenter Tony Morris and another for News Programme of the Year.

ITV’s long running programme UP – which in 1964 began to document the lives of children aged seven, all the way through to them turning 63, won two O2s – Best Factual Programme and Team.

Manchester Evening News chief reporter Neal Keeling was honoured with the Best Writer award, while newsroom colleague Sam Yarwood was named as this year’s recipient of the Rachael Bland Blogger/Vlogger Award.

Radio City and Global’s Newsroom North West both picked up two O2s. Radio City’s Paul Doward was named Radio Journalist of the Year while Global won Best Radio Programme with their investigation into knife crime and its effect on families.

During the evening, hosted by BBC Breakfast’s Louise Minchin and Dave Massey, O2’s Senior Corporate Communications Manager, tributes were also paid to print and broadcast journalists and well know figures from the regional media who had passed away in the last 12 months.

“The O2s showcase excellence in news, sport, entertainment, social and community media and applaud the growth of creative industries in the North West. This year’s entries once again highlighted the impact the media has on our communities,” said Nicola Green, Director of Corporate Affairs at O2.

Guests included Paralympic swimming gold medallist and world recorder holder Stephanie Slater, six-times Special Olympics cycling gold medallist Kiera Byland and armchair TV critics The Malone family from Channel 4’s Gogglebox, together with members of the community who had featured in the region’s media coverage through the year.

The O2 Media Awards North West 2019 winners

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About O2

O2 is a mobile network operator and the principal commercial brand of Telefónica UK Limited, which is part of the global telecommunications group Telefónica S.A, headquartered in Spain and operating in Europe, and North, Central and South America.

O2 was awarded Best Network Coverage in 2018 and 2019 by uSwitch and with over 32 million connections to the network, it runs 2G, 3G and 4G services across the UK, as well as operating its nationwide O2 Wifi service.

The company is the network of choice for mobile virtual network operators such as giffgaff, Sky Mobile and Lyca Mobile as well as managing a 50:50 joint venture with Tesco for Tesco Mobile.

O2 has around 6,700 employees and over 450 retail stores and sponsors England Rugby, The O2 and 20 O2 Academy music venues across the UK. Through a comprehensive sustainability strategy O2 is also creating work experience opportunities for 16-24 year olds via its GoThinkBig platform, enabling customers to reduce their impact on the environment by recycling their old devices through O2 Recycle and, in partnership with the NSPCC, helping parents to keep their children safe online.

O2 is the only mobile operator in the 2018 Social Mobility Employer Index and was named as one of the best places to work in the 2018 Glassdoor Employee’s Choice Award.

Telefónica UK Limited is registered in England and Wales. Registration number: 1743099.  Its registered office is at: 260 Bath Road, Slough, Berkshire, SL1 4DX, United Kingdom.