National award for Walberton journalist

A Walberton-based journalist has won a national award.

Barry Pickthall has been named the 2007 journalist of the year in the Whyte and Mackay/Yachting Journalists' Association annual yachting media awards.

He collected his 1,000 prize at the Earls Court boat show in London. It was awarded for his article about disabled sailing. This was published earlier this year by the International Sailing Federation to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

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Lyminster resident Mr Pickthall said at the awards ceremony: "When I began sailing 35 years ago, there was no opportunity for the disabled to go sailing. Today, advances in technology ... have opened up horizons for so many disabled people from the wheelchair bound to those with prosthetic limbs."

Mr Pickthall's photographic and design agency, PPL Ltd, also shared in the book of the year award with The Guardian's yachting correspondent, Bob Fisher.

The two-volume coffee table book, An Absorbing Interest, is the definitive history of the America's Cup. Designed and produced by PPL for publisher John Wiley and Son, it has sold 2,000 copies at 200 each.