Sky News Political Editor Faisal Islam was named the 2018 Journalist of the Year at the AMA’s.
The Asian Media Awards ceremony took place at the Manchester Hilton Deansgate (Thursday October 25) attracting journalists, broadcasters and media professionals from across the country.
The evening also saw BBC Breakfast’s Naga Munchetty and East is East and Ackley Bridge creator Ayub Khan Din honoured.
The highly coveted 2018 MMU and Routes into Languages Journalist of the Year category featured five broadcasters, writers, producers and reporters.
Faisal Islam is one of the country’s leading political journalists and broadcasters. He has led the broadcasters’ around-the-clock coverage during the past four years of political upheaval.
He chaired the first live head-to-head debate between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn in the 2017 General Election.
The past 12 months have seen Faisal break a relentless series of stories on the progress, or lack thereof, of Brexit talks.
Using his knowledge and contacts in Number 10, Cabinet, the opposition party, Parliament, Whitehall, business, central banks, Brussels and across European capitals, Faisal has broken countless stories that have been used extensively by other media outlets – many on front pages of newspapers.
In March, Faisal obtained the single most significant Brexit document leak from within Cabinet during the past year. His ‘Brexit Forensics’ series revealed the impact of some of the political choices of Brexit around the country.
Faisal was presented the award by Senior Lecturer in Multimedia Journalism and Programme leader MA Multimedia Journalism at the Manchester Metropolitan University Andrew Dickinson.
Andrew said, “MMU were honoured to continue to support the awards and highlight the quality of work and commitment of journalists telling vital stories for our communities.
“The AMA’s is a great opportunity for our students to see a range and depth of journalism. It’s also a chance to hear the experiences of entering the industry from people they can aspire to follow. That’s why I was particularly pleased to be able to honour the work of Faisal Islam.
“His work exemplifies great journalism and he continues to be a role model for student journalists.”
Judges said, “Faisal has repeatedly proven himself to be an exemplary journalist. He has broken a string of exclusive stories this year, which have gone on to set the agenda, not just for other media outlets, but also in discussions within parliament.
“He is clearly a talented, influential and accomplished journalist and this was reflected in the work submitted.”
Winners and recipients of AMA special awards were announced at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate on Thursday 25 October.
Previous recipients of an Asian Media Award include Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Waris Hussein, Art Malik, Mehdi Hasan, Nina Wadia and Anita Rani.
The University of Salford are premier sponsors and partners to the event include ITV, MediaCom, M.E.N, Press Association Training, Primesight & The Palace Theatre & Opera House.
The official Charity Partner for 2018 is CLIC Sargent.
The event is also supported by Manchester Metropolitan University, Routes Into Languages, Namey, AMT Lawyers, USI Money, Hilton Manchester Deansgate, Supreme Dream Events, Payal Events & Cleartwo.
