A collection of old newspapers dating back nearly 150 years have gone under the hammer at an auction.

The copies of the Wiltshire Times and Salisbury and Winchester Journal were sold off as part of antiques and collectables auction hosted in the Wiltshire town of Devizes.

Contained in the lot were bound copies of the Salisbury and Winchester Journal, dating from 1863, and the Wiltshire Times spanning April to December 1932 and January to June 1934. The collection was being sold by a private individual and was bought for £70.

The European Parliament Prize for Journalism will be awarded for the third time in 2010. It will be given to journalists who have covered major issues at a European level or promoted a better understanding of the EU institutions and its policies.

Awards are presented over four categories: written press, radio, TV and internet.

Each prize winner will receive €5,000 and the deadline for submissions is 31 March.

For more details visit the awards website.

Organisers of a football match held in memory of a promising young journalist who died of cancer are hoping to make it an annual event.

Peter Fearn graduated from Nottingham Trent University after studying newspaper journalism in 2008 and was looking for his first job.

But three days after being diagnosed with bowel cancer he died that October – a post-mortem later revealed he had died of lymphoma.

His friends have since held two charity football matches in his memory to raise money for Cancer Research UK and are now planning to make it an annual event.

A new group has been set up on social networking website Facebook aimed at drawing attention to the current state of local journalism.

It is the work of Will Beharrell, son Newbury Weekly News editor Brien Beharrell.

“If interest in the group is sufficient, I will consider petitioning the Prime Minister to offer greater government assistance to regional newspapers”, Will told HTFP.

You can view the ‘Support Your Local Newspaper’ group on facebook.com.

A one-day training workshop focussing on media law in the digital age is taking place next week.

It is being hosted by journalism tutor Cleland Thom on Thursday 28 January in London.

Workshop content includes contempt, privacy and data protection and it costs £100.

Click here for more details and to download an application form.