A prestigious press awards scheme for the north-east of England is now open for entries.

But applicants will have to be swift as the deadline for the Tom Cordner North East Press Awards is 23 October.

The 28th annual awards were due to take place at their normal time in April but due to uncertainties surrounding journalists regarding redundancies they were postponed until the autumn.

This year also sees the introduction of a new award for online video news coverage.

The award categories are:

Tom Cordner Quill for North East Trainee Journalist of the Year
Columnist/Blogger of the Year
Newspaper Design and Layout
Health and Wellbeing
Sports Reporting
Feature Writing
Online Video News Prize
Magazine of the Year
Hard News
Photographer and Picture of the Year

The presentations began in 1980 and were organised by colleagues of Hartlepool Mail news editor Tom Cordner who died suddenly in 1976 aged only 38.

Eligible material must have been published by North East newspapers, magazines and their associated websites between October 2008 and September 2009.

The awards are free to enter and presentations will be made on 27 November in South Shields.