It was a different awards ceremony that prompted resignations.
www.pressgazette.co.uk/times-withdraws-from-comment-awards-event-over-treatment-of-columnists-janice-turner-melanie-phillips/
Janice Turner was shortlisted in the Commentator of the Year category at the Editorial Intelligence UK Comment Awards alongside Guardian journalists Marina Hyde and Gary Younge.
However, awards judge Helen Belcher, co-founder of activist group Trans Media Watch, objected to Turner’s nomination and asked for her name to be removed – despite the fact that judging had already taken place.
In a statement, Belcher claimed that since the Times began printing pieces “continually positioning trans people as dangerous sex offenders”, beginning with one by Turner in September last year, “I have heard of more trans suicides than at any point since 2012″.
“These have mainly been of trans teenagers,” she added.
Writing in the Times on Saturday, Turner said the allegation that her work has “caused the deaths of children is the most upsetting accusation I’ve faced in 30 years”.
“For some trans activists to accuse me of causing the deaths of troubled teens shows how toxic this debate has become,” she added.
“My Times column from September 2017, which supposedly precipitated a suicide epidemic, described a feminist meeting where a trans activist punched a 60-year-old woman in the face.
“Everything I have written since has been intended to shed light.”
Turner previously tweeted that Belcher’s statement contained a “ghastly accusation” and called them “serious (and libellous) claims”.
In a leader column on Friday, the Times called for a “far broader and far calmer debate” about transgender rights.