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Weekly editor recognised in company awards

A weekly editor who ‘lives and breathes’ her newspaper has been praised as part of a publisher’s awards scheme.

Belinda Bennett, from the Midweek Herald, was recognised at the Editorial Person of the Year by Archant South West and presented with a trophy by divisional MD Bernard Driscoll.

She was said to lead her small editorial team by example taking on reporting and photography roles as well as editing the title and producing many exclusive stories.

Belinda was also praised for bringing in a sleeping bag and staying the night in the office when snow caused travel difficulties and is well-respected by the public and colleagues.

Other winners from the division included staff from the North Somerset Times who were named the Team of the Year.

  • Staff from the North Somerset Times celebrate after being named the winning team.
  • The editorial and sales staff were said to have worked together to erode the dominance of a competitor title, with market share increasing to over 60pc and revenues up 30pc on last year, meaning the paper is in profit for the first time in its history.

    Mr Driscoll said: “As a team they are a pleasure to work with. They are bright, inventive and humorous, and respond with enthusiasm to the challenges of the future.

    “They are a team that gets on with it and they faced an uphill struggle. Their enthusiasm, professionalism and sheer hard work has been rewarded with great success.”

    And a team of four from Country Smallholding magazine were awarded the Product or Service of the Year title.

    The magazine is produced in Exeter by a team of two editorial and two advertising staff and a continuous circulation growth, with a number of cover price increases, has resulted in revenue of more than £500,000 in 2010.

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    • January 14, 2011 at 11:31 am
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      I really do take my hat off to this editor, who sounds brilliant. Yet I get a nagging feeling employers take advantage of such passion to keep the number crunchers happy at Head Office. Frankly, hundreds of under-staffed papers are surviving on the goodwill of hacks to stop them going down the pan.

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