I am a multiple award-winning international freelance journalist with an outstanding reputation gained from 20 years experience in high-pressure conditions. From 2012 to 2020, as the Daily Mirror print edition’s Senior Feature Writer and then Special Correspondent, I was privileged to be shortlisted for the UK Press Awards for eight consecutive years. With a longstanding focus on hard-hitting and engaging reportage gathered from trips around the world, my writing pushes serious stories onto the front pages. As the judges at the 2017 British Journalism Awards wrote in my citation after I won the Features Journalism category: “Tom Parry writes with compassion and flair. With breadth and skill he shines a light on forgotten issues.”

In recent times I have diversified. I am now writing for a broad range of publications. In addition, I work as a consultant for documentary production companies, I provide bespoke media training for non-profit organisations, and I deliver seminars and lectures for journalism students.

Journalism

I have been a news reporter and a feature writer at national newspapers for 20 years, working around the world, providing award-winning dispatches and exclusive material for titles on deadline.

Books

My first book was an acclaimed travel narrative, an account of misadventures in the Australian Outback. Some years later I wrote a true crime book about the notorious, unsolved murder of four people in the French Alps.

Documentaries and broadcast

I was consultant producer for the three-part documentary series Murder In the Alps on Channel 4. I have also appeared in one-off documentaries on Sky Crime and am working with a French production company for a series on Canal+ for 2023.

Media training and PR

I provided press relations advice and expertise for charities including Save the Children, the Red Cross and the International Fund for Animal Welfare. A training course tailored to international aid agencies, called ‘NGOs and the Media’, which I co-hosted, provided insider knowledge for press officers. I worked with the strategic agency Black Sands ahead of the COP 27 summit.

Awards

In 2017 I was honoured to win the Features Journalism category at the British Journalism Awards, and the prestigious Dario D’Angelo prize for the best European journalism at the Premio Luchetta ceremony in Italy. I was the recipient of the Feature Writer of the Year accolade at the 2014 Press Awards.

Lecturing

I am a visiting lecturer on the MA International Journalism course at London’s City University.

I supervise post-graduates with their final project and the production of a magazine, and conduct seminars across a wide-range of important journalistic techniques and areas of best practice.

See my work

Award-winning newspaper and magazine journalist, author, documentary consultant and media trainer

Testimonials

I have worked with Tom for over 10 years, encompassing travel to Bangladesh, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Tom has always covered stories with rigour, cultural sensitivity and unflinching commitment to the truth. He listens to local partners and communities to get to the heart of the issues and to recount their experiences in their own words.

Nana Anto, Awuakye, CAFOD

Across a range of vital conservation issues, including the illegal wildlife trade, threats to rangers and hunting, Tom’s engagement and compassion always shone through. His expertise was also invaluable as a media trainer for colleagues .

Clare Sterling, former Senior Communications Manager, International Fund for Animal Welfare

Tom‘s journalism combines comprehensive knowledge of foreign affairs with an eye for the arresting human angle and a compelling style of writing. His passion for his subjects shines through.

Sean Ryan, former Sunday Times foreign editor, now media director of Save the Children

Tom is a patient and empathetic tutor who draws on his rich and long experience of reporting and writing to provide insightful feedback and precise guidance to journalism students.

Yuen Chan, senior lecturer, Journalism Department, City, University of London

As a journalist who had published a book, The Perfect Crime and written extensively about the tragic murder of the Al Hilli family and a local cyclist in the French Alps, Tom was a vital player in our Ch4 documentary series, Murder in the Alps, both as consultant and interviewee. Fluent in French Tom was critical in helping us secure access to key players in the French Investigation and as well as the UK and was an important collaborator in the making of the series.

Catey Sexton, documentary director