Gary Payne (left) is the new head of sport at The Telegraph, succeeding Adam Sills.
After nine years leading the sports department, SJA committee member Sills has been promoted to assistant editor of the Telegraph, working in the managing editor’s office. He will have a particular focus on talent identification and development.
The Telegraph have just won Newspaper of the Year for the third year running at the SJA British Sports Journalism Awards.
🏆🏆🏆congratulations to all @TelegraphSport for a newspaper of the year hat trick and to the brilliant @JBurtTelegraph for his football journalist of the year award ⚽️🤛🏻 (and to @martynziegler for his own hat trick) #SJA2021
— Adam Sills (@adamsills) March 7, 2022
Sills said: “The last nine years as head of sport have been incredibly rewarding. We have had so many high points from award wins to new product launches, such as Telegraph Women’s Sport, to industry-leading coverage of a whole host of big events.
“I am delighted to take on the challenges and opportunities of this new role and looking forward to continuing to help our business to succeed.”
Payne, who started as a graduate trainee covering football and rugby on The Sun, joined The Telegraph in 2015 after six years on The Guardian. He has been leading The Telegraph’s digital publishing operation.