Richard Brooks and Camilla Cavendish win prestigious Paul Foot Award for investigative journalism

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Richard Brooks and Camilla Cavendish were named as joint winners of the Paul Foot Award 2008, at a ceremony tonight.

Brooks and Cavendish shared the £5,000 prize awarded at The Spin Bar, Millbank Tower, in London.

The nominees, including the winners, for the Private Eye/Guardian prize were:

• Richard Brooks of Private Eye - for his articles investigating the government’s involvement with fund management company Actis.
• Camilla Cavendish of The Times - for a series of pieces and a campaign against miscarriages of justice carried out under the Children’s Act 1989.
• Andrew Gilligan of the Evening Standard - for his investigation into financial irregularities at London’s City Hall and the London Development Agency.
• Warwick Mansell of The Times Educational Supplement - for his work on the SATS test marking scandal and educational opposition to the government’s league table system for schools.
• Dan McDougall of The Observer - for investigating child labour in South Asia, particularly that perpetrated by clothing retailers Esprit, Primark and Gap Inc.
• Jim Oldfield of Rossington Community Newsletter, South Yorkshire Newspapers - for coverage of opposition to the proposed construction of an ‘eco-town’ in Rossington.

The runners-up each receive £1,000.

The judging panel was chaired by Brian MacArthur and made up of Clare Fermont, Bill Hagerty, Ian Hislop, Richard Ingrams, Alan Rusbridger, and Michelle Stanistreet.

The award was set up by Private Eye and the Guardian in memory of Paul Foot, the journalist and left-wing campaigner who died in 2004.

Past winners include John Sweeney (2005) and David Harrison (2006). In 2007, Deborah Wain from the Doncaster Free Press shared the prize with the Guardian's David Leigh and Rob Evans.

The 2008 longlist and shortlist citations, on behalf of the judges, can be read on the Private Eye website .