Middle East Eye wins major media award for best freelancer

Middle East Eye's Peter Oborne was named freelance writer of the year at the Online Media Awards in London on Tuesday for his reporting from Damascus on Syria's war.

Expressing thanks, Oborne said: "Eighteen months ago I was a conventional political journalist writing about conventional British politics for Her Majesty's Daily Telegraph. Since leaving the Telegraph Middle East Eye has given me the opportunity to do a kind of reporting I've never done before.

"David Hearst asked me if I would go to Damascus to report on the siege of Damascus and thanks to Middle East Eye I was able to spend two weeks there and report on the lives of ordinary people in exceptional circumstances and I'm very proud to be here tonight and grateful to Middle East Eye for sending me."

Hearst, MEE's chief editor, said that Oborne "is no ordinary reporter. He avoids the cliches and stereotypes of war and gets to the human heart of the tragedy. His report from Damascus was brave and insightful."

"He cares about the people he is reporting on and this showed through in what was an outstanding piece of journalism," Hearst added.

Oborne's story was centred around his time in Damascus, Syria's capital, where he wrote about the siege of the city and the effect it has on civilians living there.

You can read his story here.

The Online Media Awards is a major awards ceremony that highlights exemplary journalism in digital media.

MEE was also nominated for best world news site.