The Guardian has been named newspaper of the year at the Press Awards for its reporting on government surveillance.
The prize was one of a host given to Guardian News & Media and its journalists at the ceremony held by the Society of Editors in London, with Guardian website theguardian.com winning the digital award and writers Rob Evans, Paul Lewis and Patrick Kingsley all honoured for their reporting.
The judges said the Guardian "broke a story of global significance that went to the heart of the debate on press freedom. The fact that the coverage polarised opinion even within the press showed how important it was.
"The job of a newspaper is to speak truth to power and the past year has seen the Guardian do this with will and verve."
Collecting the top prize, Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief, Guardian News & Media, toasted whistleblowers and dedicated the newspaper of the year award to former Guardian deputy editor Georgina Henry, who launched Comment is Free in 2006 and died this year aged 53.
Rusbridger said: "It's a great honour for the Guardian to be named newspaper of the year by a jury of our peers. The story was not, in the end, publishable out of London and I want in particular to thank colleagues on ProPublica and the New York Times for collaborating with us. The support of editors and press freedom bodies around the world was also crucial.
"I want to acknowledge the personal cost to Edward Snowden involved in his decision to become a whistleblower. I must thank a team of extremely talented colleagues on the Guardian. And I dedicate the award to our friend and former deputy editor, Georgina Henry, who died recently."
The digital award was accepted by network editors Emily Wilson and Clare Margetson, who also dedicated the prize to Georgina Henry.
As well as its coverage of the Snowden revelations, the judges were impressed by theguardian.com's innovative reporting of the Holmes family's desperate attempts to escape the Tasmanian firestorm, among other projects.
Other Press Awards accolades for Guardian News & Media
- Newspaper of the year - the Guardian
- Digital award - theguardian.com
- News reporter of the year - Rob Evans and Paul Lewis for their work on undercover policing , including the revelation that police spied on the family of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence and that police spies stole the identities of dead children.
- Young journalist of the year - Patrick Kingsley, for his work as Egypt correspondent. He reported on accusations of war crimes against the country's military, and the men behind the Muslim Brotherhood, which was central to the Arab Spring, but later became the target of violent protests.
- Broadsheet Columnist of the Year - The Guardian's Ian Jack was highly commended.
- Critic of the Year - The Observer's architectural critic Rowan Moore was named winner for making a difficult subject accessible to general public. Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw was highly commended.
- Cartoonist of the Year - The Observer's Chris Riddell was highly commended.
- Supplement of the Year - Observer Tech Monthly was highly commended.
- Scoop of the Year - The Guardian was highly commended for its Edward Snowden Files revelations.
Further information about all the winners is online here.
