Daily Mail’s pioneering visual journalism awarded top honours for groundbreaking Deep Dive format and incredible Mo Farah investigation
The Daily Mail has won two honours at the Future of Media Awards, recognising its innovations in visual journalism. Harry Lewis-Irlam, the paper's director of visual storytelling, was named Media Innovator of the Year for developing the "Deep Dive" format, which combines investigative reporting with immersive graphics, footage and premium presentation. The paper also won Best Online Video for its investigation into the "real Mo Farah", judged to be gripping reporting told across multiple formats.
Judges praised Deep Dive for helping transform the look of a major UK news brand while proving that quality popular journalism can succeed commercially online, citing examples including an exposé of the Epstein files, a partnership with Alzheimer's Society on dementia awareness, and a 3D reconstruction marking the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The Mo Farah video, produced by reporters Andy Jehring and Kamal Sultan alongside editors Charlie Craven and Adam Dokhan, told for the first time the story of the Somali man whose identity was used to bring the Olympic athlete to Britain, drawing on exclusive interviews with him and his family.
- Daily Mail wins Media Innovator of the Year for its Deep Dive format
- Harry Lewis-Irlam honoured for combining investigations with visual storytelling
- Mo Farah identity investigation wins Best Online Video award
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Following the golden man's Somali identity to Britain, and long-standing links to Alzheimer's Society and the Epstein files, the Daily Mail has been recognised at the Future of Media Awards for its "Deep Dive" format. This is an industry award, not a news event about the athlete himself, though its most celebrated example is an investigation into Mo Farah's background.
Mo Farah is a former long-distance runner who won four Olympic gold medals for Great Britain and became one of the country's best-known sportsmen. In 2022 he revealed publicly that he was trafficked to the UK as a child under a false identity, using the name and details of another boy, and that "Mo Farah" was not his real name. The Daily Mail's award-winning video followed up on that story by tracing and interviewing the Somali man whose identity had originally been used, telling his side of events for the first time.
The other prize recognised is for a broader innovation in how the paper presents journalism online, called "Deep Dive", which pairs investigative writing with graphics and video to make stories more visual and immersive. Harry Lewis-Irlam, who leads this work at the paper, was named the ceremony's top individual innovator, while the Mo Farah film separately won best online video. The awards matter mainly as recognition within the media industry of a shift towards richer, multimedia storytelling in online news.