Redland City Bulletin reporter Stephen Jeffery has been named Queensland Country Press Association's Young Journalist of the Year for a series of stories on January's gruelling Straddie bushfires.
Jeffery, who has been with the Bulletin for two years, won the prestigious award after filing stories from North Stradbroke Island at the height of the fires.
Residents and emergency service workers were able to get up-to-date information about the state of the fires from Jeffery's stories on Twitter, Facebook and Redland City Bulletin's website.
His follow-up stories on the clean-up and aftermath gave Bulletin readers the best coverage of the fires and he maintained the edge over other mainstream media.
The 23-year-old, originally from Coffs Harbour who previously worked on the Armidale Express, collected his award at a dinner in Brisbane on Saturday, in which The Bulletin also won a swag of awards for advertising.
