Liverpool Echo Editor-in-Chief Alastair Machray has received an MBE for services to local journalism in the Queen’s Birthday honours.
The 59-year-old, who stands down later this year, has edited the Echo since 2005 and before that had 10 years as editor of the Liverpool Daily Post and Welsh Daily Post.
The country’s longest-serving daily editor said: “I regard this as an honour for the Liverpool Echo and the generations of brilliant and committed journalists who have worked there.
“I am touched and delighted. I have had an amazing career, which is reward enough in itself. It has been a privilege to serve communities and I will continue to do so in whatever I do next.
“I am extraordinarily proud to have edited the greatest brand in regional journalism.”
Machray is in his sixth decade as a newsman. He began his career in 1979 as a trainee reporter with the Sunderland Echo, before moving to the Newcastle Journal, then the Newcastle Evening Chronicle.
He worked for Today in London before returning to the Chronicle, then joined the ECHO as Assistant Editor in 1994. His father Douglas Machray was editor of the Daily Herald in Fleet Street and of the Scottish Daily Record. His mother, June Hulbert, was a Fleet Street columnist and feature writer.
Machray also serves as a trustee of the Hillsborough Justice Fund and the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. He is a member of the Liverpool City Region Cultural Partnership and in his time in North Wales chaired the Ty Gobaith (Hope House) Children’s Hospice appeal.
He has also been a trustee of Everton in the Community.
Elsewhere, Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford was also awarded an MBE for services to vulnerable children during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 22-year-old emerged as one of the UK’s most powerful and eloquent voices in the campaign to end child food poverty.
Chadderton-raised TV star and Manchester University professor Brian Cox was awarded a CBE for services to the promotion of science.
Coronation Street star Maureen Lipman was made a Dame for services to charity, entertainment and the arts.
Award-winning author, womens’ rights campaigner and festival director Qaisra Shahraz was given an MBE for services to gender equality and cultural learning.
In the wake of the Manchester Arena terror attack, Shahraz established MACFEST, which aimed to promote community cohesion through the promotion of Islamic art and culture.
Hera Hussain, founder and CEO of Media City-based Chayn, which helps women escape abusive marriages, was awarded a BEM for services to charity.
