Katie Alston receives the Kent Young Journalist of the Year award for the second year running from Jonathan Neame (left) and Barbara Sturgeon (right).

A raft of exclusives and the ability to break stories in the paper, online and on our kmfm sister radio station has helped a Gazette and Faversham News reporter to scoop a prestigious prize.

Katie Alston was named WF Deedes Kent Young Journalist of the Year for the second year running at the Shepherd Neame Kent Media Awards on Friday.

The 24-year-old journalist was praised by the judges for her multimedia skills and for being persistent when chasing a story during the ceremony at the Faversham brewery.

They said: “We have watched this journalist continue to push herself and develop her multimedia skills to an exceptional standard.

“As well as having the drive and persistence to break good new stories, she can adapt them for online readers and her use of video is first class.

“From the sensitive handling of a gun crime to exclusively revealing that Marlon Brando did live in the county, this is a journalist who is willing to put in the hard work to achieve great results.”

Katie won the same prize last year and was runner-up in the weekly print journalist of the year category at the EDF Energy London and South of England Media Awards.

Editor Leo Whitlock said: “Katie is a fantastic reporter who is great with people and is able to cover any story from hard news to her What Katie Did Next features.

“She has all of the skills that a modern-day journalist needs and is able to write for newspapers and websites, pull together audio for radio stations and produce video packages.

“On top of all of that, she is great to have around the office and keeps the more rowdy elements of the newsroom in check...most of the time.”

It was a successful afternoon for the KM Group which owns this newspaper.

Its countywide website KentOnline won the Shepherd Neame News Service of the Year Award, earning praise for creating an interactive online experience, mastering video, audio and the written word with a team of first-class journalists.

KM Group managing editor Lesley Bellew was named Master Brew Kent Feature Journalist of the Year for her stunning work on our recent Second World War supplements.

Spitfire Kent Sports Journalist of the Year Award was awarded to Luke Cawdell from our sports desk.

Our sister paper the Gravesend and Dartford Messenger won the Canterbury Jack Campaign of the Year for exposing the presence of a sex industry in the heart of a local community while its reporter Simon Tulett was named Kent’s Best Newspaper or Online Journalist of the Year.

KM Group editorial director Ian Carter said: “This is a fantastic result, and shows that even in challenging times we provide news services that are second to none.

“The award for KentOnline is particularly gratifying as it is something we can all be proud of.”