The annual RTS TV Journalism Awards took place last night - it’s the major awards ceremony for the British television news industry. This year, the event was overshadowed by the terrible news of the death of Marie Colvin, The Sunday Times journalist who died yesterday when Syrian forces attacked Homs. Her death is a reminder to us all of the extreme dangers of bearing witness to the truth – reporting from the front line.

Given the pace of our profession, awards ceremonies such as the RTS Awards are an opportunity for us to reflect on our work, as well as the work of our contemporaries. They are an acknowledgment of the rewarding moments, and sadly sometimes the risks, of great journalism.

We won four awards last night – all deserved. It’s testament to the team here who work very hard day in and day out, continually pushing themselves to make sure we have the best news coverage. We won the Home News award for our coverage of the riots, the International award for coverage of Libya, Anna Botting won Presenter of the year, and Alex Crawford won TV journalist of the year for the fourth time.

Anna and Alex’s awards are brilliant and reflect their passion for news. As both Anna and Alex made clear in their speeches last night, team work is critical to success.

2011 was an extraordinary year for news. We saw the face of the Middle East change forever as revolution began in Tunisia and swept through Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, continuing painfully in Syria. Who could forget Alex Crawford and team riding into Tripoli on the back of a rebel truck? Her footage – broadcast to viewers around the world with a small camera plugged into a cigarette lighter charger – has become legendary. Back here when London rioted, our footage left our competitors in our wake, and Mark Stone’s report delivered via iPhone was praised universally. So simple but incredibly effective.

We also saw a tsunami and the subsequent nuclear fall-out in Japan, and a hacking scandal that has rocked the newspaper industry. The death of Osama Bin Laden. European economic meltdown. And on a happier note a Royal Wedding. Years like the last come along once in a generation.

These RTS wins are a great acknowledgement of a year of news we will all remember for a long time, and one in which we excelled and cemented what a world-class channel we are.

Now we look ahead, work hard and continue to bring our viewers the best coverage we possibly can.