FORMER Callington Community College student Beth Rose has won a prestigious international journalism prize.

The 33-year-old was the recipient of best writer at the biennial International Paralympic Sport and Media Awards which were hosted in Bonn, Germany at the end of October.

The awards recognised achievements from the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games held in South Korea.

Beth who is a senior journalist at the BBC in London and is deputy editor of BBC Ouch, the disability and mental health strand, won the award for a multi-media feature about visually impaired alpine skier Millie Knight and her guide Brett Wild.

The piece – Skiing blind: ‘I crashed at 70mph’ - analysed Knight’s 12-month build-up to the Games after she crashed into barriers moments after crossing the line as World Champion in 2017. As well as a head injury, Knight also lost all of her confidence in the sport.

Beth was one of seven journalists the BBC sent to cover the Games last year. As well as reporting for Five Live and the World Service she also presented a daily podcast.

Also honoured at the awards was Slovakian alpine skier Henrieta Farkasova who won four gold medals and one silver; China’s wheelchair curling team won best team and cross-country skier Elaheh Gholi Fallah was honoured with the BP courage award after becoming Iran’s first qualifying female for the Games.

The awards also coincided with the 30th anniversary of the International Paralympic Committee which is currently preparing for next year’s Summer Games in Tokyo, Japan.

Beth said: ‘It was such an honour and a surprise to win this prize and so exciting to attend the awards in Germany ­— it was very glamorous. To be on the same stage as these athletes really was something special.

‘The piece that secured the award really wouldn’t have happened without Knight and Wild being so honest and revealing their greatest fears to me in the months leading up to the Games and that in itself was fascinating.’