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Papers reap rewards from a good news day

The Evening Gazette in Teesside and The Journal in Newcastle are celebrating all that is great about their circulation areas.

The Trinity Mirror titles have both been championing their home cities in print, with The Journal publishing ‘100 Reasons Why It’s Great Up North’, and the Evening Gazette giving readers ‘101 Reasons Why It’s Great To Live In The Tees Valley’.

The “feel-good” feature idea led to a 20-page supplement and four-page wraparound in The Journal, and a 40-page supplement and four-page wraparound in the Evening Gazette – all of which helped boost circulation and revenues.

Sales of The Journal increased by 500 copies compared to the previous week.

Both titles also gained significant advertising revenue as local companies rushed to be associated with the positive coverage.

Huw Lewis, associate editor at The Journal, said the paper had originally developed the idea last September when it ran its first 100 reasons.

This met with such a positive response that it decided to come up with another 100, with the help of listeners to Metro Radio and Magic 1152.

Huw said: “We thought it would be nice to put together a double-page spread to make readers feel good about the area. There is a terrific quality of life here.

“We then realised that there was more we could do and the advertising potential and the list grew into a supplement.”