A South East weekly has been named as the newsagents’ choice as Regional Newspaper of the Year.

The Kent and Sussex Courier was awarded the accolade by the National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN) at its annual awards night on Tuesday.

It was up against two bigger rivals in the shape of the Northern Echo and Scotland on Sunday.

However, the judges said the Courier had been chosen for demonstrating excellence and innovation in product, sales activity and marketing.

“Regional press is a sector that is under a great deal of pressure, but the Courier Media Group have recognised the benefits of working closely with the NFRN and have been very supportive at a local level as well as working constructively with members to develop home news delivery,” said NFRN president Parminder Singh.

The Courier’s newspaper sales and marketing director Libby Paterson said: “This is a great team accolade which means so much more when someone from outside the company has nominated us.”

The Courier’s newspaper sales manager Justin McAllister (left) and newspaper sales and marketing director Libby Paterson (second left) pictured with Nikki Bedi who hosted the evening and Neil Flockhart of Puzzler Media