Awards for Yorkshire Post journalists

Simon Hulme, who has worked at the paper since 2001, was there last May when Huddersfield Town clinched promotion to football’s Premier League after a Wembley play-off against Reading that went down to the wire – and on the front line in a stand-off during an anti-fracking demonstration at Kirby Misperton, when police threatened to arrest a tea lady whose table was in the way.

His portfolio of pictures earned him the title Best Photographer at the O2 Media Awards for Yorkshire, which were staged in Leeds.

The accolade comes 15 months after he was named Regional Photographer of the Year at the UK Picture Editors’ Guild Awards.

James Mitchinson, Editor of The Yorkshire Post, said: “Simon is one of the top newspaper photographers working today. His picture of the fracking demonstration shows his instinct for the heart of a story, and his shot of the former Olympic diver Jane Cooke demonstrates his complete technical mastery.”

At the same ceremony, Ruby Kitchen a journalist for The Yorkshire Post and the investigative unit run by its parent company, Johnston Press, was named Reporter of the Year, for a series of articles about mental health and an interview with Vincent Uzomah, a teacher stabbed in Bradford.

Mr Mitchinson said: “Ruby is establishing herself as one of the most tenacious, fully-rounded reporters in the industry.”