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Echo scoops awards hat-trick

The South Wales Echo has scooped a hat-trick of top prizes at this year’s Trinity Mirror regional editorial awards.

Editor Alistair Milburn collected trophies for Daily/Sunday Newspaper of the Year and best news pages indaily/Sunday titles, during a ceremony to celebrate the group’s achievements.

The paper also picked up the prize for Best Innovation for its unique approach to reporting nostalgia, which has seen the traditional sepia-tinted photograph replaced with a full-colour, interactive daily page of ‘recent nostalgia’, often from the 70s and 80s.

The Chester Chronicle walked away with two awards – being crowned Paid-for Weekly Newspaper of the Year as well as scooping the prize for Best news pages in weekly titles.

The best front page award was won by the Cannock Chase Post, for its splash headline ‘One-legged lotto winner spends cash on sex change’.

The judges said: “You couldn’t resist buying the paper with a headline like this!”

The awards were presented by Stephen Parker, Trinity Mirror’s managing director, Regional Newspapers, at an after-dinner ceremony hosted by editorial director Neil Benson.

Neil said: “The quality of the award entries was outstanding, which reflects the huge amount of content development work our editorial teams have put into our titles.

“The judges were particularly impressed by the strength of our news and sports pages, plus the quality, relevance and impact of our local campaigns.”

The judging panel was chaired by Professor Peter Cole, head of the University of Sheffield’s journalism department, and also included media consultant and award-winning former editor Allan Prosser, and Peter Genower, former editor of TV Times who is now a leading consultant to the publishing industry.

A full list of winners is below:

Best news pages – weekly titles
Winner: Chester Chronicle
Highly Commended: South London Press, Croydon Advertiser

Best news pages – daily and Sunday titles
Winner: South Wales Echo
Highly Commended: Wales on Sunday, Sunday Mercury

Best feature pages – weekly titles
Winner: South London Press
Highly Commended: Caernarfon & Denbigh Herald, Reading Chronicle

Best feature pages – daily and Sunday titles
Winner: Wales on Sunday
Highly Commended: Western Mail, South Wales Echo

Best sports pages – weekly titles
Winner: Croydon Advertiser
Highly Commended: Hinckley Times, Runcorn Weekly News

Best sports pages – daily and Sunday titles
Winner: Liverpool Echo
Highly Commended: Wales on Sunday, Birmingham Post

Best Editorial Innovation
Winner: South Wales Echo

Campaign of the Year
Winner: Liverpool Daily Post
Highly Commended:Daily Post, Wales
Highly Commended: Yellow Advertiser

Front Page of the Year
Winner: Cannock Chase Post
Highly Commended: Wales on Sunday
Highly Commended: Evening Gazette

Free Weekly Newspaper of the Year
Winner: The Press, Barnet
Highly Commended: Crawley News
Highly Commended: Enfield Advertiser

Paid-for Weekly Newspaper of the Year
Winner: Chester Chronicle
Highly Commended: South London Press
Highly Commended: Croydon Advertiser

Daily/Sunday Newspaper of the Year
Winner: South Wales Echo
Highly Commended: Wales on Sunday
Highly Commended: Liverpool Echo

Back to the awards index

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