The Leicester Mercury has won international recognition for its work to highlight the problem of counterfeit goods.

The Global Anti Counterfeiting Group, an international group of organisations working to fight the growing trade in fake products, has commended the Mercury for championing the anti-counterfeiting cause.

The newspaper was the runner-up in the media category of the group’s annual awards, which was won by the Washington Post.

The Mercury’s coverage included stories on exposed counterfeiting operations and in-depth reports on the scale of the problem.

The awards panel praised its coverage for being instrumental in bringing about a working group representing industry, trading standards and trade unions to bring in solutions to curb counterfeiting in the city.

It also said the newspaper remained alive to the issue and demonstrated the contribution local media can make in educating the public.

Mercury editor Nick Carter said: “Counterfeiting is something that affects our local businesses very hard.

“This was highlighted two years ago when our city was given a title it wanted to shed – the counterfeit capital – and we wanted to get involved in trying to address the problem.

“That we have won international recognition for it shows the vigour with which we have highlighted the issue.”

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