A FORMER Barry & District News writer says he is ‘amazed and proud’ after winning a music journalism award for the second year running.

Simon Price, 44, won the ‘Live Reviews: Writer of the Year’ accolade, as part of the Record of the Day awards.

Simon, who writes for the Independent on Sunday, said: "I was pretty amazed that I won it, as the Independent has a relatively small readership compared with other papers.

"I’m quite proud really, as I’ve seen off people from the likes of The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Times.

"I’ve won it all thanks to the Barry and District News!"

Simon’s first foray into music journalism came when he wrote a pop column in the B&D between 1984 and 1986 called ‘Simon Says…’ "I wrote a letter to the then editor complaining that there was nothing there for young people. It was just full of obituaries and skittle scores," he said.

"The editor said ‘go on then, do something about it’ and offered me my own column, which was mostly just singles that were out each week.

"It gave me a way to find my way and learn the ropes."

Simon, who now lives in Brighton, was presented with his award during a ceremony at the Red Gallery in London last month.

"Everybody in the industry was there, with all the journalists from the national papers attending," he said.

Music stars including Bez from the Happy Mondays and Paloma Faith also attended the night.

"I was given the award by Wales' own Huw Stephens from Radio One, who compered the event, which was nice because he used to work with my dad Gary at BBC Radio Wales," added Simon.

Gary Price, Simon’s father who died in January last year, also wrote for the Barry & District News as a youngster, and went on to forge a successful career as a radio presenter and producer for CBC (later Red Dragon Radio and now Capital FM), BBC Radio Oxford and BBC Radio Wales.

And son Simon said he is now following in his father’s footsteps, having branched out into broadcast journalism by hosting the ‘BBC Introducing…’ programme nearly a dozen times.

"When they need someone to step in for the regular guy they phone me," he said.

"My father died this year and it’s nice to be following in his footsteps.

"I would love to get more involved in radio and get my own regular show."