Newsrooms across the North West are buzzing after the announcement of the nominees for this year’s BNFL Newspaper Awards.

The Lancashire Evening Post could be set for a trophy-laden day after being nominated in all but one of the categories.

The British Nuclear Fuels sponsored awards are now in their tenth year, and have a prize fund of £3,500 to mark the anniversary.

Last year saw the Blackpool Gazette take the blue ribbon prize of Daily Newspaper of the Year, with the Liverpool Echo and the Lancashire Evening Post finishing runners-up.

At this year’s awards, to be held in July, the Post is again nominated, along with the Carlisle News & Star and the Manchester Evening News.

Evening Post editor Roger Borrell is delighted about being shortlisted again: “It’s just reward for the tremendous hard work the team has put in since we re-launched the newspaper in a tabloid form last September.

“I am absolutely delighted and we will give it a good go at going one better than last year and hopefully get the newspaper of the year title.”

The high profile individual award, News Reporter of the Year, sees the LEP’s Nicola Adam and Clare Lomax and Liverpool Daily Post’s Phil Coleman competing to succeed last year’s winner, Mikaela Sitford, of the Manchester Evening News.

Event organiser, Gordon Maxwell from the North-West Newspapers Society of Editors, admitted it was becoming an increasingly difficult job choosing the nominees.

He said: “The awards are now in their tenth year and I am delighted it has become such a popular and prestigious annual event in the region.

“The standard of work keeps getting better and better each year making the job for our judges even more difficult.”

The winners will be announced at a ceremony on July 6, at the JJB Sports Stadium in Wigan.

Click here for the full nominations list.