Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford made an impassioned plea for female journalists to continue to be treated equally as war reporters when she delivered the annual Bob Friend Memorial lecture last night (21 February).

In her lecture, titled Alex Crawford: A Reporter's Story, the three times winner of the coveted Royal Television Society television journalist of the year award said there were now more female journalists than ever working as foreign correspondents.

Referring to incidents in Egypt and other Arab Spring locations when female journalists had been targeted and assaulted, Alex Crawford said any suggestion that women should not be sent to war zones was wrong. Female journalists 'have a duty' to broadcast from the front line, she said.

Introducing Alex Crawford, Professor Tim Luckhurst, Head of the University's Centre for Journalism, said she was the latest in a line of illustrious female reporters going back to the US journalist Martha Gellhorn who had acted as an inspiration to women entering journalism.

The event, at Kent's Medway campus also saw Rob Kirk, Editorial Development Manager for Sky News, present first-year student Jemma Collins of the Centre for Journalism with the 2012 Sky Bob Friend Memorial Scholarship.

Both the lecture and scholarship were established in 2009 in memory of Bob Friend, who was the original face of Sky News as well as a long-serving BBC journalist.

Congratulating Jemma Collins, Rob Kirk said: 'We're delighted that this partnership between Sky News and the University of Kent creates a wonderful opportunity for a young journalist at the start of their career. As a man of Kent, Bob would have approved.'

Bob Friend joined Sky News at its launch 22 years ago and quickly became the face of the new channel. In his 14 years with Sky News he won a glowing international reputation for his warmth, intelligence and humour, winning a number of awards for his presenting skills.

He died in October 2008 and is survived by his wife Marion and their two daughters. The annual lecture and scholarship were established by a partnership of the Friend family, Sky News and the University of Kent.

The scholarship is awarded to a student who has demonstrated outstanding academic and professional merit and shows great potential for a future career in journalism. Jemma Collins will have her first year tuition fees paid and is guaranteed a four-week placement at Sky News later in the year.