A regional daily’s tribute to a footballer who lost his daughter at birth has been voted the best front page of 2015 by HTFP readers.

The Bournemouth Echo’s splash was dedicated to Harry Arter, who played in AFC Bournemouth’s 2-1 win over Manchester United in December a few days after the tragedy.

It won the support of 30pc of HTFP readers in the annual contest, well ahead of the Oxford Mail’s campaigning splash in defence of freedom of information laws which won 12pc.

Nearly 2,000 readers took part in the poll which ran for a fortnight over the Christmas and New Year period.

In a comment piece published at the time, Echo deputy editor Neil Meldrum praised Arter’s “astonishing strength and bravery.”

“This correspondent has been in the place Arter finds himself now. But this correspondent didn’t play 86 minutes against Manchester United just days later with that level of performance,” wrote Neil.

Third place in our poll went to the Carmarthen Journal’s moving ‘Bring Him Home’ wrap, desdicated to missing schoolboy Cameron Comey, which took 11pc of the votes.

Joint fourth with 8pc were the Northern Echo’s wrap on the Redcar steelworks closure and the Western Mail’s front-page riposte to ‘cocky Irish pundits’ after Wales defeated Ireland in the Six Nations.

Readers were allowed to vote for up to three of the 15 front pages shortlisted in the poll.

The full results were as follows:

Bournemouth Echo – For You, Harry (30%, 581 Votes)
Oxford Mail – This Is What Could Be Lost (12%, 227 Votes)
Carmarthen Journal – Bring Him Home (11%, 209 Votes)
Northern Echo – Abandoned (8%, 162 Votes)
Western Mail – We Won, Spread the Word (8%, 146 Votes)
Macclesfield Express – United in Grief (7%, 131 Votes)
Leicester Mercury – 11 (6%, 115 Votes)
Teesside Gazette – 1845-2015 (6%, 114 Votes)
Manchester Evening News – Life or Death (6%, 113 Votes)
Liverpool Sunday Echo – Legend (4%, 79 Votes)
Croydon Advertiser – Spiderdad (3%, 50 Votes)
Birmingham Mail – Wanted for Rape and Murder (3%, 49 Votes)
Newcastle Chronicle – A Nation Divided (1%, 28 Votes)
The News, Portsmouth – Today’s The Day (1%, 22 Votes)
Norwich Evening News – Glory Glory Norwich City (1%, 18 Votes)

Total Voters: 1,931