Messenger reporter Alan Watkins has been named one of the best in the county.

Alan, who works at the Gravesend and Dartford Messengers, was named the Shepherd Neame Best Newspaper or Online Journalist of the Year at an award’s ceremony on Friday.

His stories about a long-running row about a youth club, plus his recollections of notorious killer Fred West, were picked out for praise.

Alan’s award wasn’t the KM Group’s only success at the Kent Media Awards, held at the Shepherd Neame brewery in Faversham.

Angela Cole, chief reporter at the Kent Messenger in Maidstone, was highly commended in the same category as Alan, and Medway Messenger journalist Dan Bloom also received a commendation in the W F Deedes Young Journalist of the Year category.

The judges were particularly impressed with his story about 83-year-old George Gibbs, Britain’s oldest jobseeker, who went against advice from his doctor in his search for employment.

Tributes were also paid to veteran broadcaster Bob Holness, a former judge of the Kent Media Awards.