A weekly newspaper’s eye-catching lament for a series of shop closures on a local High Street has been voted the best front page of 2016 by HTFP readers.
The Fife Free Press reacted to the collapse of the BHS chain in April by listing all the stores which had disappeared from Kirkcaldy town centre in recent years before posing the question wheher its BHS outlet would be next.
It was among ten nominations for the best front page of 2016 in our annual readers’ poll which closed this morning.
This year’s vote developed into a close race between the Free Press and sister Johnston Press title the Yorkshire Evening Post for its coverage of the death of local MP Jo Cox in June.
Although the lead changed hands several times, eventually the Free Press won out with 35pc of the vote to 30pc for the YEP.
Third place with 14pc of the vote went to the Liverpool Echo for its front page on the Hillsborough inquest verdict while the Exeter Express & Echo’s coverage of the fire which destroyed a 250-year-old hotel was fourth with 11pc.
The winning front page was designed by Phil Smith at the Johnston Press Sheffield design hub.
Free Press editor Allan Crow revealed at the time that it had been Phil’s idea to drop an image of the store which had been in the original mock-up and go with the text-only front.
HTFP publisher Paul Linford said: “Congratulations to Allan, Phil and the Fife Free Press team on a well-deserved win and thanks to all the HTFP readers who took part.”
Readers were allowed to vote for up to three of the 10 front pages shortlisted in the poll and more than 1,500 took part.
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Always makes me laugh when big newspaper companies lament things like this. Store closures are due to rampant capitalism, yet these newspaper companies themselves have been eviscerated by rampant capitalism.
‘We would publish a series of features about town centre layoffs, but unfortunately we’ve laid off our features department’.
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If this is deemed the front page of the year we might as well all shut up shop ( those that are left ) and go home
It’s neither a news story as this piece could be about any town city or community in the country all of whom could fill a cover with a pointless list of the business that have closed nor is it well designed, its a basic ‘war declared’ wob font with no design factors whatsoever
Quite what the criteria must have been to determine the winner or how bad the other contenders must be beggars belief.
A non story and a bad advert from the regional press in this country.
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An awful choice of winner and I can’t help but think how better it would have been to have celebrated and promoted the many businesssbithlocak and national who remain in this town rather than taking the sakes of those who’ve chosen to leave. Surely more constructive to give publicity and recognition of those who are investing in a place than to remind everyone of those who’ve gone but thst probably wouldn’t sell papers or satisfy the doom mongers who like nothing better than to celebrate failure
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Congrats to the winner. It wasn’t my pick but the top three – particularly the third!!! – were outstanding.
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‘The winning front page was designed by Phil Smith at the Johnston Press Sheffield design hub’.
A bit ironic. A front page lamenting decline of businesses investing in town and yet the page was designed 300 miles away.
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I suspect Russian cyber attacks have swayed the voting here.
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As a West Yorkie, now living in Sheffield, Hillsborough and Jo Cox were both close to my heart… but Fife’s front page relayed a desperation…a dying town. The frustration of watching your community disappear to big cities, or out-of-town shopping centres (Meadowhall springs to mind) is soul destroying.
Well played Fife Free Press..
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High street closures? JP are pretty good at this. They have closed enough local offices.
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