The Shafta Awards are British awards given annually for "the very worst in tabloid journalism".''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 26 April 2006
Monkey goes to the Shaftas
/ref> They were established in 1987 following a '' Daily Star'' story "Princess Margaret to appear in Crossroads" by Geoff Baker and Pat Codd, in honour of which they are also known as the "Princess Margaret Awards".''

'', 5 May 2008
And the winner is ...
/ref> ''

'' wrote in 2008 that "Shaftas host Johnny Vaughan often sums up the awards' ethos by quoting a tabloid journalist who once told a colleague: 'Fuck the facts, just quote a friend - the pub's open in 10 minutes.'" Piers Morgan, winner of a lifetime achievement Shafta in 2005, described the awards as "celebrat ngwhat I believe to be the very essence of

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

: the regular ability of adult, intelligent, well-educated, street-smart journalists to behave like complete and utter numbskulls." The awards were originally little more than a meeting in a pub, and were not held between 1997 and 2001, when they were revived by '' The People'''s showbiz editor Sean O'Brien. Winners include Sean Hoare and Piers Morgan, winning lifetime achievement Shaftas in 2004 and 2005 respectively. James Desborough also won the ""can we hear the tape?" award for verbatim quotes" in 2002 for an interview with

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the B ...

that

Salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...

alleged included a fabricated quote.

References

{{reflist Ironic and humorous awards Awards established in 1987 British journalism awards 1987 establishments in the United Kingdom