by Trevor Sturgess

KM Group political editor Paul Francis (pictured right) has made the headlines himself for notching up a unique treble in the Shepherd Neame Journalist of the Year Awards.

Paul was named Kent Journalist of the Year for the third time, an accolade never before achieved in the contest’s 22-year history.

At a presentation ceremony at Shepherd Neame’s visitor centre in Faversham, Paul was also named Kent’s Best Newspaper Journalist of the Year.

Judges said Paul’s work was of national standard and praised his integrity, bravery and passion for the area he serves.

It was a successful year for the KM Group, with Katie Alston, from the Kentish Gazette, named WF Deedes Kent Young Journalist of the Year, and Simon Tulett of the Gravesend Messenger highly commended in the same category.

The Gravesend & Dartford Messenger won the Canterbury Jack Campaign of the Year Award for its Everyone Counts campaign, which raised £200,000 in two months to save the Ellenor Lions Hospice.

KM Group managing editor Ron Green, who worked for the Group for 30 years and recently took early retirement, received a Shepherd Neame Lifetime Achievement Award. Ron, 62, twice edited the Kent Messenger - voted weekly newspaper of the year in 2002 and 2003 during his editorship - and was editor of the former daily Kent Today. He was described as "a first-rate journalist who writes like an angel".

Other winners included Daniel Keel from the News Shopper (Kent Feature Journalist of the Year), Glenn Garrett of the Courier Media Group (Spitfire Kent Sports Journalist of the Year), the BBC’s Robin Gibson (Bishops Finger Kent Broadcast Journalist of the Year). The News Shopper won the Shepherd Neame News Service of the Year Award.

Jonathan Neame, chief executive of Shepherd Neame, said: "We have been sponsoring these awards for more than 20 years and we’re proud to be able to reward the achievements of Kent’s best journalists and the valuable news service they provide the county. It has been a tough time for media groups but we’re very encouraged by the dedication and quality of the entries we received."

The judging panel, chaired by broadcaster Barbara Sturgeon, included Tim Luckhurst, professor of journalism at the University of Kent and a former editor of The Scotsman; Kim Fletcher, former editorial director of the Telegraph Group, Justin Allen, from the sports desk of The Sun and the News of the World.