Sheffield journalist scoops top award

Lucy Ashton, who covers politics stories and is based at The Star in Sheffield, won in the Best Use of Social Media category at the Local Democracy Reporting Service Conference and Awards at the BBC’s Media City offices in Salford on Friday, November 26.

Lucy, who is part of the Local Democracy Reporting Service team that focuses on covering councils in South Yorkshire, made great use social media, particularly Twitter, when covering the local elections in May.

She said was “chuffed” to receive the award and added: “It was for my election coverage in May which had a whopping 1.4 million Twitter impressions.

"Thank you to everyone who follows, Tweets and interacts with me - I couldn't have done it without you all!”

The conference and awards ceremony was attended by more than 100 local democracy reporters from across the UK, senior managers from the regional media and executives from BBC News.

News Media Association Chief Executive Owen Meredith said: “The Local News Partnership is a shining example of the value that can be created through the BBC working in genuine partnership with the commercial news media sector.

"We are delighted the BBC has reaffirmed its commitment to the scheme through to at least 2027.”