The Daily Mail was crowned Daily Newspaper of the Year at the Society Of Editors’ Press Awards, as individual journalists and teams were recognised for their work during the pandemic in 2020.

The Sunday Times won Sunday Newspaper of the Year and the Guardian scooped News Website of the Year at the awards, which honour the best in national journalism and media.

It follows a year which saw newsrooms emptied and journalists forced to adapt to new ways of working during the coronavirus crisis, while reporting on one of the biggest stories in modern history.

Joint winner of the Scoop of the Year was awarded to the Daily Mirror and the Guardian for their coverage of Dominic Cummings’ infamous lockdown trip to County Durham.

The Daily Mirror’s Pippa Crerar, who jointly broke the story of Boris Johnson’s former adviser’s apparent breach of lockdown rules, was named Political Reporter of the Year.

The awards aim to celebrate the broad spectrum of the press, with gongs in categories such as sports, health and foreign news, from broadsheet to tabloid, in print or online.

The Journalism Diversity Fund, which has granted more than 400 bursaries to help journalists enter the industry, was honoured with the Special Award, after the scheme celebrated its 15th anniversary last year.

Chief executive of the National Council for Training Journalists (NCTJ) Joanne Butcher said: “We are so pleased that the Journalism Diversity Fund has been given this special award by the Press Awards.

“It is recognition of the JDF’s achievements since it was established in 2005, and a reminder of the significant amount of work that remains to be done to make the news media sector more accessible and truly representative.”

Award organisers said: “Despite this disruption, the press continued to do its job: representing the interests of readers, holding power to account, and telling the story of the human impact of the virus.

“As fake news online put lives at risk, the press, with its high editorial standards, presented news that could be trusted.”