Johnston Press has awarded bursaries for five students from ethnic minority backgrounds to study on journalism courses.

It is the second year in a row that awards have been made by the regional newspaper publishing group.

Three recipients of last year's awards have moved into journalism jobs with the group's own papers.

The latest awards have been made for students to attend courses at universities and colleges which are accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists.

The scheme was launched after a staff survey at Johnston Press revealed that the ethnic and social demographic mix of editorial teams in some centres was out of balance with the communities their newspapers served.

Johnston's human resources director Malcolm Vickers, said: "As a group we are delighted to be working towards employing a workforce which reflects the communities we serve and these bursaries form an important part of this strategy."

The group is also launching an initiative to identify staff in each of its publishing companies who will act as diversity champions.

Their role will include surveying current staffing levels and looking for ways to make sure the group titles can develop even closer employment links with their communities.