THE Sun’s legendary royal photographer Arthur Edwards MBE has scooped a prestigious award for his outstanding journalism with judges saying he is “simply the best”.
Arthur, 82, was awarded the London Press Club Journalists’ Laureate sponsored by the St James’s House Group, honouring excellence in journalism.
In their citation, London Press Club Ball Chairmen Robert Jobson and Ray Massey said “Arthur is simply the best. In newspapers to steal his phrase, ‘sometimes it’s words, sometimes its pictures’.
“Arthur is brilliant at both. His iconic images light up any newspaper page, and his sharp, wise commentary on our Royal Family, both for his newspaper and when he is broadcasting is always right on the money. After covering well over 200 royal tours abroad in his staggering 45 years on The Sun, is still at the top of his game.”
In this historic royal year – with the Platinum Jubilee and sad passing of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – the judges said he was the stand-out candidate. “An eminent photographer, he is a master of our trade,” they said.
Arthur is only the fourth recipient of the award after the brilliant LBC broadcaster Nick Ferrari, Eve Pollard – one of the first women to edit a national newspaper – and long-standing Daily Mail Editor Paul Dacre.
Arthur collected the award in front of a host of national newspaper editors, media executives past and present, and other leading media figures at the Grosvenor House hotel on Park Lane.
Arthur, who has been photographing the Royal Family since 1977, was also awarded a £5,000 prize which he donated to the Journalists’ Charity, along with a further £10,000 donated by the invitation only event’s sponsors the St James’s House Group. The sponsors also donated a further £10,000 to the London Press Club.
Arthur left school at the age of 15 and went to work as a photographer at a West End advertising agency and he eventually joined The Sun in 1974
A lifelong West Ham United fan, at the London Press Club Ball he was also presented with a 1965 Hammers shirt by a close friend of the late West Ham and World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore, Brian Dear – a Freeman of the City of London. The shirt was signed by Brian and, fellow West Ham striker in that European Cup Winners Cup team, England hero Sir Geoff Hurst.
Brian, who still holds the record for scoring the quickest five goals scored in one game in top-flight English football, said: “I remember Arthur as a young photographer working on the local East London Advertiser. Nothing was ever too much for him. As the shirt says, he is simply the best.”
Robert Jobson also presented Arthur with a drawing of him and the King, based on a photograph taken of the two men sharing a moment during a royal tour.
Arthur was made an MBE in in 2003 for his dedicated service to the newspaper industry. He received an Honorary Doctor of Arts from Anglia Ruskin University in 2012.
He has also been admitted into the prestigious Royal Photographic Society’s coveted fellowship — its highest award possible. Other fellows include David Bailey and Terry O’Neill.
