The winners of the SPA 2025 National Awards have been announced.

From hard-hitting investigations to insightful interviews, and thought-provoking culture pieces to stunning print design, the quality of work produced showcased the finest talent on campuses across the UK and Ireland.

The awards were sponsored by a range of industry bodies, including Newsworks, PLMR, Exeposé, Bloomberg, Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture, PA Training, the Association of British Science Writers, iNHouse Communications, Leon Emirali and Women in Journalism.

With 1,326 entries this year, they were the UK’s biggest journalism awards. Nominations were judged by a diverse range of top editors and journalists from media organisations including BBC News, Sky News, The Independent, The Guardian, The Times, OK Magazine and Politics JOE.

Once again, we were really impressed with the overall high quality of submissions this year - student journalism in the UK and Ireland is truly thriving.

Best Publication

Sponsored by... Newsworks

• Winner: Epigram
• Highly Commended: The Boar

Billy Dowling-Reid Award for Outstanding Commitment

Sponsored by... Newsworks

• Winner: Annie McNamee, Epigram
• Highly Commended: Luke Chapman, The Boar

Best Specialist Publication 

• Winner: Women's Wrongs
• Highly Commended: The Apiary

Best Newcomer Publication 

Sponsored by... Exeposé

• Winner: Hillhead Review
• Highly Commended: Tonic by Quench

Best Design (Newspaper) 

• Winner: The Boar
• Highly Commended: Gair Rhydd

Best Design (Magazine) 

• Winner: Planorama
• Highly Commended: Inside The Box

Best Overall Digital Media

Sponsored by... iNHouse 

• Winner: Limerick Voice
• Highly Commended: Cherwell

Best Website 

Sponsored by… PLMR

• Winner: Cherwell
• Highly Commended: ScienceMind

Best Project or Initiative

Sponsored by... PLMR

• Winner: Break The Mould, Epigram
• Highly Commended: The Queer Student Podcast, Planorama

Best Culture Publication or Section(s)

• Winner: Muse
• Highly Commended: The Relic (The Saint)

Best Science Publication or Section(s)

Sponsored by... The Association of British Science Writers (ABSW)

• Winner: Epigram
• Highly Commended: UCL Science Magazine

Best Sports Publication or Section(s)

• Winner: Roar News
• Highly Commended: The Courier

Best Reporter

Sponsored by... Bloomberg

• Winner: Harriet Mogie, The River
• Highly Commended: Luke Chapman, The Boar

Best Culture Writer

• Winner: Ali Rees, Brig Newspaper
• Highly Commended: Anna-Marie Regner, The Saint

Best Sports Reporter

• Winner: Ben Pawlowski, Palatinate
• Highly Commended: Skye Slatcher, The Beaver

Best Student Photographer Award 

• Winner: Arabella Wright, The Gryphon
• Highly Commended: Alden Arnold, The Saint

Rising Star (Best Newcomer)

Sponsored by... Women in Journalism

• Winner: Kate Bailey Tonkin, The Glasgow Guardian
• Highly Commended: Sofia Lambis, Epigram

Best News Story 

Sponsored by... Leon Emirali

• Winner: Lord Peter Mandelson officially announces candidacy for Oxford chancellorship - Éilis Mathur, Cherwell
• Highly Commended: Exeter University invests £800,000 in major global plastics polluter - Callum Martin, Exeposé

Best Investigation

Sponsored by... Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture

• Winner: Women silenced across ranks: LSE’s mishandled sexual misconduct investigation into professor - Amadea Hofmann, The Beaver
• Highly Commended: Union Society members suspended after appalling comments made at secret event - Will Dixon, Palatinate

Best Feature

• Winner: A childhood abused by my grandfather - Marianne Carney, The Badger
• Highly Commended: An Israeli and a Palestinian-American sit down together - Simon Ezra-Jackson, The Saint

Best Interview 

Sponsored by... PA Training

• Winner: Guardian columnist John Crace on life, career and politics - Callum Martin, Exeposé
• Highly Commended: On poetry, prison, and new notions of time: In conversation with Mohsen Mohamed - Sanaya Narula, Cherwell 

Best Science or Tech Piece 

Sponsored by... The Association of British Science Writers (ABSW)

• Winner: How many friends can you really have? Rethinking Dunbar’s number and the 150-friend limit to our social circles - Harshitaa Sendhilkumar, RUMS Review
• Highly Commended: PopSci and science communication - science fact or fiction? - Jana Bazeed, Roar News

Best Comment Piece 

• Winner: The case for assisted dying - Lucy Reade, Pi Media
• Highly Commended: Ease on down the road - Sam Spendlove, The Saint

Best Lifestyle Piece

• Winner: Why I swapped nights out for knitting - Antonia Shipley, Nouse
• Highly Commended: 2024 Intoxtigation results: Merton drink least, Christ Church most - Laurence Cooke & Victoria McKinley Smith, Cherwell

Best Arts or Culture Piece

• Winner: Supporting Palestine through food - Libby Marchant, Trinity News
• Highly Commended: The point of print - Phoebe Pascoe, The University Times

Best Creative Piece 

• Winner: Made in China - Jessica-May Cox, The Beaver
• Highly Commended: A Wellington boy’s ode to the Duke of Wellington - Isaac Quirke, Glasgow University Magazine (GUM)