Matthew Garrahan, Los Angeles Correspondent and James Politi, US Deals Reporter, for the Financial Times, won first prize at the Los Angeles Press Club National Entertainment Journalism Awards.

Garrahan and Politi won in the category ‘Best News Story – Print’ for their breaking news on the credit crunch as it hit Hollywood. Their article “Goldman drops Dollars 1bn MGM financing,” was published in the FT on August 16, 2007.

US Managing Editor Chrystia Freeland said: “We are very proud of Matthew and James for their award-winning coverage of the effects of the credit crisis as it spread to the entertainment industry. The connections they made between Hollywood and Wall Street exemplify the FT’s collaborative global approach.”

Competition was intense, with over 100 submissions from across the country. Politi and Garrahan beat out entries from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Variety and the LA Times.

The judging panel included Alex Ben Block, former editor of TelevisionWeek and the Hollywood Reporter, Ted Johnson, staff writer at Daily Variety and Claudia Puig, film critic for USA Today.

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For further information, please contact:

Darcy Keller, Financial Times, +1 212-641-6614 or darcy.keller@ft.com

For further information, please contact:

Jo Crosby, Financial Times, 020 7873 3811 or jo.crosby@ft.com

About the Financial Times:

The Financial Times, one of the world’s leading business newspapers, is recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. Providing extensive news, comment and analysis, the newspaper is printed at 24 print sites across the globe, has a daily circulation of 452,448 (ABC figures, January 2008) and a readership of more than 1.3 million people worldwide. FT.com is one of the world’s leading business information websites, and the internet partner of the FT newspaper. FT.com is the definitive home for business intelligence on the web, providing an essential source of news, comment, data and analysis for the global business community. FT.com attracts 6.5 million unique users, generating 43 million page views. FT.com has 101,000 subscribers.