Newspaper staff from across the country have been celebrating after scooping prizes at Johnston Press’s annual awards night.

The event was part of the group’s annual editorial and newspaper sales conference, and saw the Yorkshire Evening Post crowned Johnston Press Daily Newspaper of the Year for the second year running.

Editor Neil Hodgkinson collected the award from group chief executive Tim Bowdler (above), as judges hailed the Post “a first class evening newspaper”.

The Weekly Newspaper of the Year award went to the Hemel Gazette, edited by David Feldstein (below).

The newspaper received praise from judges, who said it was packed with “cracking news stories which were excellently presented with imaginative fronts and strong inside news pages”.

Meanwhile judges awarded the Free Newspaper of the Year title to the Milton Keynes Citizen, edited by Jan Henderson (below).

Trainee Journalist of the Year was Catherine Burt, from The News, Portsmouth.

Guests speaker at the awards dinner was Home Secretary David Blunkett. Other guests included Press Complaints Commission chairman Sir Christopher Meyer and director Guy Black.

Other award winners included:

Best editorial content on a website – Eastbourne Today

Best in-paper promotion – The News, Portsmouth

Best front page (daily) – Peterborough Evening Telegraph

Best front page (weekly) – Leamington Courier

Daily sales award – Blackpool Gazette

Weekly sales award – Mansfield Chad

Best single copy sales initiative – Wigan Evening Post

Best editorial idea – Wakefield Express

Most innovative promotional campaign – Yorkshire Post

Best outside event – Epworth Bells and Crowle Advertiser

Best home delivery sales campaign – The News, Portsmouth

Back to the awards index

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