C+D’s digital reporter Eliza Loukou was crowned Newcomer of the Year at the ceremony on Friday (January 27).

Judges commended her for probing the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee chief executive Janet Morrison on the future of the pharmacy contract and exposing what the shadow health secretary Wes Streeting thinks of supervision rules.

Read more: ‘Daft bureaucracy’: Shadow health secretary questions supervision rule

Judges were also impressed by Ms Loukou’s extensive coverage of the fallout from June's General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) exam, which was dogged by complaints of technical glitches and allegations of cheating – and even led to a protest outside the regulator’s headquarters.

C+D took home another gong after winning the Best Support for Independent Pharmacists category.

In particular, the judges were impressed by C+D’s crimes in pharmacies investigation and its exposé into temporary pharmacy closures, which uncovered over 20,000 instances of this in just a year.

Read more: Revealed: The reasons behind temporary pharmacy closures

SOURCE: COPYRIGHT STEVE BURDEN PHOTOGRAPHY

 

Saša Jankovic, who regularly freelances for C+D, also picked up an award after being named Freelancer of the Year.

 

Commenting on the awards, C+D’s editor Beth Kennedy said: “We were thrilled to pick up prizes in not just one, but two categories.

 

“I was delighted to see Eliza’s hard work recognised – and after a brilliant first year with C+D uncovering impactful stories that have kept community pharmacy teams talking, the accolade is well deserved.

 

“We were also pleased that two of our exclusive investigations caught the judges’ eyes. This recognition is testament to the work the C+D team puts in every day to highlight issues that really matter to grassroots pharmacists.”

 

The 12^th annual Avicenna Media Awards – which had a two-year hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic – were held at the Ismaili Centre in central London.