By Tony O’Reilly and Gabriel Princewill-
Harry-Lewis Irlan, director of visual story telling(pictured) for The Daily Mail, won the media innovator of the year for the 2026 Future Of media awards held at the Hilton London bankside hotel this year, leading the pool of impressive winners, by virtue of the accolade he received.
The ceremony was held as a gala dinner on Thursday, 10 September 2026, following the Future of Media Technology Conference, which took place earlier the same day.
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The 2026 shortlist contained 109 individual shortlisted entries across the 20 categories. Because some publishers submitted more than one entry and some categories contain multiple entries from the same organisation, 109 should not be confused with 109 different media outlets.
The shortlist itself shows the breadth of the competition. The national website category had Bloomberg UK, Financial Times, Sky News, The Guardian, The i Paper and The Times. The regional website category featured Andover Advertiser, Belfast Telegraph, Birmingham Live, Kent Online, SoGlos and The Chelsea Citizen.
Harry’s award was for visual story telling, and the accolade by virtue of its specific award of media innovator, places the recognition of his contribution right up there at the top amongst the winners.
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The Times, The Economist, The Belfast Telegraph and Reach plc, also emerged as major winners at the annual awards.
The Tmes was named National/International Website of the Year, with judges declaring that it had “rewritten the narrative of legacy media decline”, while The Belfast Telegraph took the Regional/Local Website of the Year prize for its use of video, live journalism, archives and subscriptions.
Electrifying.com won Specialist/B2B Website of the Year, while The Economist was named Publisher of the Year and also took the National/International Digital Storytelling award.
Reach plc was another major winner, taking three prizes through MyLondon, Nottingham Post and its Mantis Scribe artificial-intelligence
Product Excellence And Impactful Online Story Telling
The awards, now in their fifth year, are designed to recognise editorial, commercial and product excellence in digital news media. They aim to celebrate ‘ great product teams, effective digital strategies, innovative editors and impactful online storytelling’.
Media Innovator of the year:Harry-Lewis Irlan
The awards’ own material says entries opened on 2 April 2026, with the deadline on 26 June, and the shortlist was announced on 14 July.
Press Gazette says the competition was open to news publishers anywhere in the world, with separate categories for national/international and specialist/local brands.
The 2026 competition covered 20 categories, ranging from websites and apps to podcasts, newsletters, live journalism, reader revenue, AI and publisher inn
16 media outlets produced the winners
Chief editor of The Press Gazette,Dominic Ponsford, told The Eye Of Media: ‘There were 48 judges on the panel. They were looking for evidence of innovation, commercially viable stuff, entries that catch attention, something new’
‘‘ The winners tend to do something a bit different, something which inspires others. Finding new ways to make journalism work.
”For example, it was the first time the Times digital revenue outweighed their print, giving them a feeling like a brand with a new future. Their innovation represents The Times, just like their name.
The Economists were also worthy winners. They did new videos, a new series, which was something fresh and new”.
Chief editor of Press Gazette: Dominic Ponsford Image. Matt Copon
Speaking about the absence of many international publishers on the winning list, Mr Ponsford said: ”there were not very many entries [from international publications], but the judges picked the winners , judging from what they observed”.
Analysis of the published winners shows that the 20 categories were spread across 16 distinct media outlets. The strongest finding is that the 20 award categories produced winners from 16 distinct media outlets, with additional awards going to Reach plc as a corporate winner,
The Economist was the only media outlet to win two awards, taking both Publisher of the Year and Digital Storytelling (National/International). Reach plc won three categories, although those prizes were split between MyLondon, Nottingham Post and the publisher’s Mantis Scribe AI produce.
The remaining non-outlet recipients included technology company Tickaroo, which won News Industry Technology Partner of the Year, and Daily Mail visual storytelling director Harry Lewis-Irlam, who was named Media Innovator of the Year.
PA, the UK’s major national news agency, notably did not appear on the published 2026 shortlist. They most likely did not present an entry.
PA has previously participated in the Future of Media Awards. In 2022, for example, PA’s PA Explore platform was shortlisted for a specialist/B2B digital media award. The awards’ published judges include PA Media executives Martin Ashplant and journalist/lecturer Roz McKenzie
PA has been undergoing a significant transformation towards a video-first, multi-platform operation, with its editor-in-chief Jack Lefley describing the agency as a 158-year-old national news agency undergoing continuing transformation across formats.
One of the awards most interesting features is the recognition of small and independent operations. Democracy for Sale won the specialist/regional newsletter prize, The Will Hayward Newsletter also won specialist/regional online video, and The Bristol Cable won specialist/regional podcast.
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