Honour for Chris

Chris Lynham receives his certificate from Natasha Hamilton

CHRONICLE sports reporter Chris Lynham had a brush with the stars when he was a finalist at last night’s O2 North-West Media awards held at the Palm House, Liverpool.

Chris was highly commended in the Scoop of the Year category for his Paul Scholes exclusive where the United star revealed he had never been asked by England boss Fabio Capello to come out retirement for the ill-fated World Cup campaign.

And Chris received his award from former Atomic Kitten Natasha Hamilton, who relaunched her solo career by singing her new single to the 200-plus invited audience.

Chris was beaten to the top prize in his category by Liverpool Echo reporter Mark Johnson for his story of the attempts to smuggle a dead passenger onto a flight at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Other big winners on the night were Granada Reports — for whom Lucy Meacock won TV journalist of the Year and Chris Hall who won sports reporter — while the Cumberland News won the overall newspaper title beating off daily winner the Liverpool Echo.