Headlinemoney Awards 2017

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AWARDS 2017

Financial Commentator of the Year

Winner Claer Barrett, Financial Times

Each year, the bulk of the names making up Headlinemoney’s judging panels are drawn from the financial journalist community with the balance being senior financial services professionals drawn from other parts of the media and beyond. As you might imagine, coming from different parts of the industry it’s rare for the judges to agree on everything from the first moment of a judging session. There is usually a period of cogitation, reflection and debate as each individual considers the views of his/her fellow judges before ultimately feeding in to a panel decision. However, in 2017 the financial commentator discussion was one of the shortest in history with the judging panel unanimously agreed on their idea of the winner within a fewminutes of sitting down. The Financial Times’ Claer Barrett landed the same trophy in 2016 and made it back-to-back wins in 2017 with three submissions which had the judges in total agreement from the outset. “These were three really interesting pieces, from help-to-buy to student loans, to women being turned off to financial services advertising and they each hit the spot,” one judge commented. “Claer’s submissions were superbly written and each made a telling point prompting the reader to sit up and think seriously about the financial matter in hand,” a second judge added. “I think it would probably be fair to say that Claer is the most populist-orientated individual ever to hold the money editor role at the FT. She’s using her position to confront some telling issues in her commentary pieces,” a third judge remarked.

The Shortlist • Claer Barrett, Financial Times • Ian Cowie, The Sunday Times • Dan Hyde, Money Mail • Merryn Somerset Webb, MoneyWeek/FT • John Stepek, Money Week

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