00:00As far as professions go, journalism isn't always the most well-liked of jobs, with public
00:05polls suggesting it falls alongside politicians and lawyers as particularly unpopular. But
00:10the Kent Press and Broadcast Awards aim to shine a light on the work that print, radio,
00:14TV and online journalists do.
00:17The twelfth year of the event saw Paul Brand, the UK editor of ITV News, known for reporting
00:22party gates during Boris Johnson's tenure as Prime Minister, hosting the awards.
00:26I think local and regional media is absolutely essential, particularly when we've got a Prime
00:31Minister coming in who's talking about devolution. I want to know who's going to hold those devolved
00:36figureheads to account, who's going to make sure that they're delivering on the promises
00:41that they make. And without local and regional journalists, that is not going to happen.
00:45So we have to keep celebrating and recognising the importance of that layer of journalism.
00:51It is absolutely fundamental to our democracy.
00:54Well, it can't really get more Kentish than this, can it? We're at the St Lawrence ground,
00:58home of the Spitfires, and we're celebrating all of Kent's best media, whether that's print,
01:03radio, broadcast or anything else. There's some of the biggest faces in South-East journalism
01:08here, all hoping to win some top prizes.
01:11There were 16 categories up for grabs, with news teams from across the South-East collecting
01:15either highly commended or coming off the stage as winners of their category.
01:19It's just great to be here amongst some of the best journalists in Kent because they're
01:25producing great work all the time and so just even to be nominated is obviously really flattering.
01:31It's not really an award for me, it's an award for the Centre for Journalism at the University
01:34of Kent and the work that myself and my colleagues over 15 or more years have been doing to breed
01:40journalistic talent in Kent to try to make sure that Kent has a really thriving kind of production
01:48line of young talent coming through, serving their communities, telling important stories.
01:52Features are particularly interesting because you get to tell some stories that maybe haven't been
01:57told before and maybe haven't been told by everybody else as well and find out real regionally
02:03relevant stories that really anchor that story in the region.
02:08My heart was beating out of my chest like when they were doing the category, I was like
02:13this is worse than presenting the news, I was like never again but no it was lovely,
02:19so nice to go up on stage and collect the award so thank you.
02:23After giving out all the awards the winners gathered for a photo on the cricket grounds
02:27and Paul Brand answered questions from the crowd about his own work,
02:30experiences and thoughts on the industry which along with the awards had many young journalists
02:35hoping it would give them a boost in their careers. Finn McDermid for KMTV in Canterbury.
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