Richard Edwards, who was named British Trainee of the Year by Newstec last month, will leave the Western Daily Press later this year to join the London Evening Standard.

The 23-year-old covered the war in Iraq as a member of the Regional Press Corps, and on his return was approached by the Evening Standard who had been impressed with his reports.

Richard said: "I'm delighted. They rang out of the blue - it's very flattering."

The call from the Evening Standard came shortly before Richard won the trainee title, and after accepting the new role he was also approached by the News of the World, but decided to stick with the original offer.

He will begin reporting for the newspaper in August.

He said: "It's been a bit of a strange time but I'm looking forward to joining the Evening Standard.

"It's a really good move - I still have a lot to learn and it will be a great place to push myself further."

He admits that it was a hard decision to leave the Western Daily Press, which he joined two years ago.

He said: "I feel a lot of loyalty to the Western Daily Press as they have shown a lot of faith in me. I will be very sad to leave.

"It's a very forward moving paper and I get on well with the editor and all the staff, but this is an opportunity I couldn't turn down."