The Salford Star has been recognised for its straight-talking editorial in the Plain English Campaign Media Awards.

The quarterly free title, started two-and-half-years ago, won the Best Regional Newspaper category at the annual celebration of things clear and concise.

The judges citation said: “The Salford Star campaigns in the best traditions of a regional paper working to protect the interests of its local community.

“It’s presented in a magazine style which makes it easy to read.

“It uses good headlines and narrative with interesting articles aimed at the people of Salford. There is a lot of white space and pictures to break up the text.”

Star journalist Nigel Pivaro said: “We strive to inform our community and readership about some of the activities and agendas of politicians, government and developers.

“In that we try to use honest, simple and plain English and that’s one of the most potent weapons in our armoury.”

Other media award winners including the Daily Mirror, BBC2 Newsnights, ITV London Tonight and www.bbc.co.uk.

The 29th Awards were presented by impressionist and comedian Rory Bremner at The Brewery, in London, yesterday.