A recently-qualified weekly senior reporter has bagged her third NCTJ award in the space of a year.

Katie Dickinson, of the Westmorland Gazette, has been awarded the 2015 Pamela Meyrick Award for the best National Qualification in Journalism candidate working on a newspaper in the North of England or North Wales.

Katie, pictured left, sat her NQJ in March and was subsequently awarded the Ted Bottomley award for her performance in the media law and practice exam, achieving 91pc.

She later won the NCTJ trainee of the year prize at the training body’s annual excellence awards, presented at its conference in November.

Katie’s latest award is supported by Nicola Meyrick, daughter of Pamela, in memory of her mother. who was the first woman reporter on the Rochdale Observer from 1944 to 1948 before moving to London to work on magazines.

Said Katie: “I’m absolutely made up to have won this award. It has come as a complete surprise, but a very welcome one.

“I’d like to thank my news editor Mike Addison and content editor Andrew Thomas for all their support.”

Before joining The Westmorland Gazette, Katie completed her NCTJ Diploma in Journalism training at the University of Salford in 2013.