Streatham & Clapham alumna wins Trade Journalist of the Year

Streatham and Clapham High School alumna Simoney Kyriakou has won a high-profile industry award for her outstanding contribution to financial journalism. From falling into journalism ‘by accident’ to becoming Trade Journalist of the year, Simoney describes her journey:

I became a journalist after joining a magazine called Pensions World back in 1999. I thought I was going to learn how to edit books but I became a journalist by accident! My first boss Stephanie Hawthorne, was amazing, training me up from scratch. I have never looked back.

Some 18 years of financial journalism later I’ve been privileged to have interviewed some senior politicians (Sir Steve Webb, Baroness Ros Altmann), writers (Gyles Brandreth) and sportsmen (Sir Ben Ainslie), and written for The Times, the Financial Times, the Daily Mail and even had a couple of money-saving books published.

The award I won recently was unusual in that I have previously been recognised with ‘topic specific’ awards, in ethical investment or pensions for example, but this was for my overall contribution to financial journalism.

The award was issued by one of the main financial bodies in the city – the Chartered Investment Institute/Personal Finance Society and presented by Rory Bremner. Readers who are members of the CII/PFS voted for me based on my work at FTAdviser as content plus editor, so for me this is a strong endorsement that what I am writing is important to them, provides them with the information they need and is both entertaining and engaging to read. Which is always difficult when talking about finance!