Journalists responsible for the Sunday Times Fifa Files investigation and Private Eye’s reporting on a corrupt contract between the UK and Saudi governments have shared the 2014 Paul Foot award for investigative and campaigning journalism.
Jonathan Calvert, editor of the Sunday Times’s Insight team, and Heidi Blake, his deputy, analysed hundreds of millions of documents leaked by a whistleblower from global football governing body Fifa.
The Fifa documents detailed the activities of Qatar’s top football official Mohammad bin Hamman, in his successful campaign to bring the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
Blake is leaving the Sunday Times to become UK investigations editor at BuzzFeed.
Private Eye’s Richard Brooks and Andrew Bousfield revealed illicit payments and gifts used to help secure a multibillion-pound contract for the UK to supply the Saudi Arabian national guard with electronic warfare equipment. Following the story, the Serious Fraud Office launched a criminal investigation into the contract which is ongoing.
The awards, founded by Private Eye and the Guardian in memory of campaigning journalist Paul Foot, were presented last night at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts by Private Eye editor Ian Hislop.
He told the audience: “The winner of the Paul Foot Award for Journalism 2014 is … Qatar. The decision to award this prestigious prize to a small Middle Eastern state may have surprised some observers, but the voting procedure was entirely honest and transparent.”
He continued: “I have just been handed an envelope which has made me reconsider this decision and I am delighted to announce the winner is now … Saudi Arabia.”
Both campaigns are being awarded a £3,000 prize. Other shortlisted campaigns by the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Observer and Press Gazette each received £1,000.