Six Times of Malta journalists have been recognised for their work delivering informative, hard-hitting and insightful news to readers, scooping more than half the awards at the annual journalism awards on Saturday night. 

Presided over by President Myriam Spiteri Debono at the Verdala Palace in Buskett, the awards, organised by the Institute of Maltese Journalists (IĠM), recognise excellence across a range of categories including investigations, photojournalism and the environment.

We take a look at the Times of Malta submissions which most caught the judges’ eyes.

Best Investigation

Revealed: Ex-Labour MP Silvio Grixti at centre of ‘huge’ benefit fraud racket

Outraging the public, healthcare workers and epilepsy sufferers alike, Mark Laurence Zammit and Jacob Borg’s investigation into an extensive multimillion-euro disability benefit racket was a defining moment of last year. 

Revealing an egregious misuse of public funds and betrayal of medical ethics, the investigation revealed a years-long scheme supplying fake medical documents to hundreds of people thought to have swindled the country out of an estimated €4.3 million.

The GP believed to have been at the centre of the scheme, former Labour MP Silvio Grixti, who allegedly personally handed over the fake documents, was charged earlier this year.

Second place: Victor Vella, It-Torċa

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Scoop of the Year

‘Your friend is my friend.’ Exposed: the driving licence racket

In what became a poster child for nepotism and abuse of power, Jacob Borg’s stunning revelation that driving test candidates were allegedly being helped to obtain a licence by the very people trusted with assessing them made waves last year. 

WhatsApp chats showed former transport minister Ian Borg and his trusted aides had regularly piled pressure on Transport Malta’s director of licensing Clint Mansueto to “help” candidates, with staff at OPM and the Gozo Ministry also implicated.

With some of the candidates having hailed from Borg’s electoral districts, the scandal revealed a disturbing picture of political influence in the realm of public safety. Mansueto and two others stand accused of participating in the racket and face corruption and trading in influence charges, which they have denied.

Second place: Malta Today newsroom

Third place: Mark Laurence Zammit, Times of Malta

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Crime and Legal Affairs Journalism

Watch: ‘I was scared to testify against my own abuser’

Sarah Carabott’s harrowing portrayal of a woman living in fear of her estranged husband gave readers an important insight into the struggles faced by those suffering at the hands of an abusive partner.

‘Vickie’ described having to sleep with her bedroom door locked amid a cycle of harassment and threatening behaviour, and detailed years of mental and physical abuse. 

Although suffering at the hands of her estranged husband, she explained she had been scared to testify against him – something she later regretted, urging other women not to make the same choice.

Second place: Jacob Borg, Times of Malta

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Best Photojournalism

Photographer Jonathan Borg’s stark image of savagely pruned trees in Mosta square, captured during a nighttime protest against a saga of actions that led to the trees’ pruning, aptly captured public perceptions of authorities’ senseless treatment of the environment.

Second place: Neil Camilleri & Giuseppe Attard, NET

Third place: Darrin Zammit Lupi, Reuters

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Environment and Planning Journalism

Fact-check: Is the Ġgantija development outside UNESCO’s buffer zone?

In an age of misinformation and hyperbole, the work of fact-checkers like Times of Malta’s Neville Borg are more important than ever, providing clarity to complex issues.

And when questions arose over a controversial planning application to build a 22-apartment block just 157 metres away from the site of Gozo’s world-famous Ġgantija temples, the devil proved to be in the details.

While the developers originally successfully argued the project lay outside of a UNESCO buffer zone deigned to protect the site, Times of Malta showed this was in fact not the case, with 2015 changes by the international heritage organisation placing the historic site within the zone.

Second place: James Cummings, Times of Malta

Third place: Karl Andrew Micallef & James Cummings, Times of Malta

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Interviewer of the Year

Watch: Priests should have option to marry – Archbishop Charles Scicluna

Mark Laurence Zammit netted the award for Interviewer of the Year for his conversation with Archbishop Charles Scicluna, who in a bombshell revelation said he thought the time was ripe to discuss whether Catholic priests should be allowed to marry. 

The controversial admission – acknowledged by Scicluna as probably sounding “heretical” to some – made headlines around the world, with Vatican media and even former Irish president Mary McAleese weighing in on the issue.

Second place: James Cummings, Times of Malta

Third place: Albert Galea, The Malta Independent

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Sports Photojournalism

Matthew Mirabelli’s shot of a violent clash during a rugby game scooped the award for best sports journalism, the image capturing the high tensions of a match as players commit their determination and physical prowess to achieving victory at any cost. 

Second place: Dominic Aquilina

Third place: Matthias Brancaleone

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Business Journalism

Duo rake in half a million euros from jobless scheme run by GWU

In January, Jacob Borg revealed how a controversial scheme to broker minimum wage jobs for unemployed people netted two General Workers’ Union (GWU) officials €540,000 between them. 

Financial records showed how ex-GWU lawyer Aron Mifsud Bonnici and the union’s financial consultant Robert Borg made hundreds of thousands of euros in “dividends” and “directors’ fees”.

Meanwhile, a freedom of information request filed by Times of Malta revealed the union was invoicing government employment agency JobsPlus approximately €1 million per month to run the scheme.

Second place: James Cummings, Times of Malta

Third place: Neville Borg, Times of Malta

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Sports Journalism

Fact-check: What role did passports play in Malta’s Small Nations Games victory?

Neville Borg’s fact-check into the role passports given to foreign athletes played in Malta’s Small Nations Games successes laid fears to rest and showed the country had plenty to be proud of. 

While some had said athletes from overseas “with no connection to Malta” had been given passports to swell the ranks of Maltese talent, Times of Malta showed the vast majority had a prior connection to Malta. 

Out of the 214-strong Maltese team, 183 were Maltese nationals, 24 were non-Maltese nationals who resided in Malta for at least the past three years and seven were awarded a passport by merit.

Times of Malta showed the country would have still dominated the leaderboard even without the medals won by those athletes given passports.

Second place: Karl Andrew Micallef & Daniel Tihn, Times of Malta

Third place: Valhmor Camilleri, Times of Malta

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Features Journalism

Her son Jean Paul is dead. Now this mother has nothing to lose

Mark Laurence Zammit’s heart-wrenching interview with Isabelle Bonnici, whose son Jean Paul Sofia was tragically killed in a building collapse two years ago, laid bare the pain and enduring loss of a mother who will never see her son again. 

Bonnici’s bold decision to share with readers a glimpse of the trauma her family feels at losing her son, who came to represent the worst excesses and failings of Malta’s construction industry, was as brave as it was heartbreaking. 

Describing her journey from private person to public figure in her quest to fight for justice for her son, she told Times of Malta: “I have nothing to lose. That’s what a mother’s love does to you. It gives you the courage of a lion and this will not stop here.”

Second place: Karl Azzopardi, Malta Today

Third place: Sarah Carabott, Times of Malta