Evie Ashton wins Young Journalist of the Year

Evie Ashton has won the coveted Christopher Martin-Jenkins Young Journalist of the Year following the presentation of the 2024 Domestic Cricket Journalism Awards at Lord’s.

The new-look awards, now in their 14th year, were presented in conjunction with the Cricket Writers’ Club at the ECB Domestic Season Launch.

The awards featured three new categories – Podcast of the Year, Photo of the Year and Video Content Creator of the Year – to reflect the wider media landscape covering domestic cricket and were judged by an independent panel of media.

Ashton, who is a graduate of the ECB’s Hundred Rising Reporter programme, claimed the top honour for up-and-coming cricket journalists with the judging panel noting “her willingness to tackle difficult issues with both flair and journalistic discipline was highly impressive”.

Mike Taylor won the Christopher Martin-Jenkins Broadcaster of the Year for his commentary with BBC Radio West Midlands.

The judges noted: “Mike’s rich and distinctive voice combined with his playful and imaginative use of simile sparkles with enthusiasm while he never loses sight of the radio commentator’s imperative to inform; to be the eyes of the listener.”

The Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast was crowned the inaugural winner of the Podcast of the Year category while Cricket District won the newly-minted Video Content Creator of the Year for their work across the recreational and professional domestic game.

Nathan Stirk became the first name etched onto the new Photo of the Year trophy for his picture of Oval Invincibles batter Jordan Cox being bowled by Trent Rockets’ Sam Cook at Trent Bridge during The Hundred last August.

The Cricketer Online won a seventh consecutive Outstanding Online Coverage Award while the judges described the Liverpool Echo as “the benchmark for regional cricket coverage” highlighting the work of chief writer Tom Evans as the masthead claimed a hat-trick of Regional Newspaper of the Year awards.

ECB chief executive officer, Richard Gould, said: “Cricket has a rich history of story telling and we are indebted to those people in the media who are able to bring those stories to life.

“This year’s awards reflect the many and varied ways of telling those stories whether it is through the commentary of a Rothesay County Championship match or content creation for social media audiences. There are so many ways to reach more and more people and to share our love for the game and I congratulate all the winners of the awards.”

ECB chair Richard Thompson announced at the awards that Rothesay will this season partner with the ECB Reporters Network, which will be known as the ECB Reporters Network suported by Rothesay.

The service provides written match coverage for every professional men's and women's county competition and is provided free for national and regional media to use.

2024 Domestic Cricket Journalism Award winners:

Christopher Martin-Jenkins Young Journalist of the Year: Evie Ashton. Highly Commended: Cameron Ponsonby

Christopher Martin-Jenkins Broadcaster of the Year: Mike Taylor. Highly Commended: Dan Whiting

Outstanding Online Coverage: The Cricketer Online. Highly Commended: The Guardian

Regional Newspaper of the Year: The Liverpool Echo. Highly Commended: Stoke Sentinel

Podcast of the Year: Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast. Highly Commended: The T20 Blast Podcast, The Final Word

Video Content Creator of the Year: Cricket District. Highly Commended: Bhavya Doshi

Photo of the Year: Nathan Stirk. Highly Commended: Dave Vokes, Robbie Stephenson, David Griffin

ends

Editor's Notes:

Nathan Stirk's winning entry for Photo of the Year is attached and available for use.

Caption: Jordan Cox of Oval Invincibles is bowled out by Sam Cook of Trent Rockets during The Hundred match
between Trent Rockets Men and Oval Invincibles Men at Trent Bridge on August 14, 2024 in Nottingham,
England.