Regional press journalist-turned-author Phillipa Ashley has won a top award for her debut novel.

Phillipa, a former features editor and sub-editor for Central Independent Newspapers, received the Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers from the Romantic Novelists' Association.

She had been shortlisted for her book Decent Exposure, published last October, and beat ten other authors who had been nominated for the prize.

She collected £1,000 prize money at a ceremony in London.

The judges said of Phillipa's work: "This book had really great characters right from the start, especially the fish-out-of-water heroine and the hero who is 'always happiest when he's got something to be angry about'."

The award is presented to the best debut novel each year to have been accepted for publication and gone through the RNA's New Writers' Scheme, which has run since 1962 to encourage fresh talent.

Phillipa began writing fiction in January 2005, and quickly won a publishing deal with Headline Little Black Dress.

Decent Exposure has been sold in South Africa, Holland, Canada and Australia as well as the UK, and her second novel, Wish You Were Here is due to be published later this month.