Donald Trump's 'fake news awards' fall flat as website crashes within minutes of the unveiling

President Trump has been mocked after his self-styled “highly anticipated” fake news awards fell flat when the site crashed.

Minutes after Mr Trump declared the winners of his new award ceremony, the link buckled and visitors were met with a 404 error.

People were left looking at a photo of Trump doing his customary thumbs up with the message: “Don’t worry, we’re making it great again.”

The site, hosted by the Republican Party (GOP), was eventually fixed but not before gleeful journalists took to Twitter to make fun of Trump’s heavily self-promoted awards ceremony.

Reporter Jack Jenkins wrote: “You know what kind of website would adequately prepare for a massive influx of traffic for a highly anticipated story so it doesn’t crash? A news website.”

Writer Tony Posnanski poked fun at Trump’s campaign pledge to build a wall on the Mexican border which, he claimed, Mexico would pay for, saying: “The GOP will fix the broken Fake News Awards link and Mexico will pay for it.”

Blogger Matthew Yglesias joked: “This 404 error has really cheapened the spirit of the Fake News Awards.”

The term ‘fake news’ was originally coined to describe fabricated stories that are published and circulated on social media.

But the President has repeatedly used the phrase to describe any reporting that he does not like, often accusing journalists of lying without any evidence to back up his accusations.

Mr Trump initially announced he would be publishing the "most dishonest and corrupt media awards of the year" on January 8 but later pushed the date back to the 17th.

On Wednesday night, he shared a link to the list with his 46.8 million Twitter followers, alongside the caption: “And the FAKE NEWS winners are...”

The New York Times topped the winners list, followed by ABC News reporter Brian Ross for an erroneous report on former National Security advisor Michael Flynn. Several CNN reporters were also “honoured”.

US TV host Jimmy Kimmel performed a spoof awards ceremony where he pretended to hand out a "Fake News Award" to CNN host "Wolf Blitzer".

Blitzer, played Kimmel’s father, said: “Thanks, Jimmy, I have so many people to acknowledge. First I want to thank our fake news writers, who brilliantly made our bullshit all year long.

“I want to thank our special effects team, who made it look like the president threw paper towels at Puerto Ricans.

“And most importantly, I want to thank President Trump for this trophy of a child's fist giving the middle finger."

This latest Twitter tirade comes ahead of the anniversary of Trump’s inauguration on Sunday, marking one year since he took office.

On January 21 2017, millions of women donned pink hats and clothes and marched in protests around the world, rallying against Trump’s perceived misogyny.

And this year an anniversary marched is planned with the aim of rallying against the President and empowering women and encouraging new voters to register.

The main event is happening in Las Vegas but there is also one scheduled to take place in London on Sunday.

Organisers called on “people of all genders to march as part of an international day of action in solidarity”.

More than five thousand people have expressed an interest in attending the rally, which will begin opposite Downing Street at 11am.