Holdthefrontpage has been named Best Niche Internet Site (Commercial) at the Newspaper Society New Media Awards 2003.

We received the award at a gala dinner in London last night from Northcliffe Newspapers managing director Kevin Beatty and John Robertson, president of the Newspaper Society and deputy chairman of the Newbury Weekly News.

Publisher Patrick Astill and web journalist Nikki Sargeson were there to celebrate the win.

Patrick said: “We’ve been judged against the industry’s best and come out on top. We’ll keep up the good work to make sure HTFP continues to be the first place to visit for regional press news and jobs.”

Scotsman.com was named Best Daily Newspaper Internet Site of the Year.

It won the award for its innovation in news coverage, which the judges said was “presented with such an elegant style and demonstrating a clear audience understanding supported by revenue-generating services”. It was also highly commended in two further categories.

Newsshopper.co.uk was named Best Weekly Newspaper Internet Site, as the judges were impressed by its “additional interactive content”.

The Kent Messenger Group won the award for Best New Media Development Section, for KRIS (Kent Radio Information System), which the judges described as providing “an excellent model for the use of technology in sustaining a commitment to community reporting and ensuring that listeners are kept front of mind”.

This new category was introduced to recognise strategic thinking in digital media, with an emphasis on reaching new audiences, adding value to relationships and achieving organisational efficiencies.

Northcliffe Electronic Publishing’s Adoption-net, edited by Matt Bailey, won Best Promotion of an Online Service. Last year the website was named Best Online Community Service in the same awards.

Matt said: “It’s fantastic to have all our efforts recognised at such a high profile event. Winning an award last year was fabulous but to walk away with another one this year is more than we could have hoped for.”

Other winners included: