Seven newspapers will battle to be crowned the UK’s best regional daily at a set of awards dedicated to excellence in print and digital production.

The newsawards 2016 shortlist has been revealed, with the Eastern Daily Press set to defend its Fujifilm Grand Prix award – which recognises titles’ success across the three areas of print, digital and business.

The Leicester Mercury, present holder of the Regional Daily Newspaper of the Year (weekdays) prize, will also defend its title.

Other papers nominated in that category are Dundee daily The Courier, Aberdeen’s Press & Journal, The News, Portsmouth, the Shropshire Star, the Western Morning News and London’s Evening Standard.

Mercury editor Kevin Booth said: “It is a fantastic achievement to again feature in the shortlist for this award, alongside some of the big-hitters of the regional press.

“We were delighted to be named Regional Newspaper of the Year in 2015 after a very successful redesign of the Mercury.

“Since then, we have continued to evolve the paper and added several new sections to broaden our offering to the reader.

“To be shortlisted for a second year in such a competitive field is an outstanding achievement and one that reflects the hard work and talent of the Mercury’s exceptional editorial team.”

The awards celebrate the best in print, digital and business innovation across regional, national and international titles.

Elsewhere the Chichester Observer, Newbury Weekly News, Retford Times, Cumberland News, Essex Chronicle, Oxford Times and Scarborough News will compete to be crowned Weekly Newspaper of the Year.

In the digital section of the awards, the Manchester Evening News is up for News Website of the Year against national and international competition, while Newcastle daily The Chronicle, the EDP and the Warrington Guardian have all been nominated in the Best Use of User Generated Content category.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the awards, originally called the Newspaper awards, with a ceremony set to be held next month.

Gary Cullum, director of newsawards, said: “Amazingly, given all the challenges currently faced by the industry, virtually all categories this year have seen an increase in the number and quality of submissions.

“It never fails to astound me just how much innovation there is on an annual basis. The print judges had a huge task when deliberating and dissecting more than 850 individual titles, showcasing the technology, production excellence and printed quality from many of the world’s best produced newspapers.

“Since introducing our new format the increase in quality and quantity of entry for the Digital and Business awards has been exceptional.”

The full shortlist is:

Fujifilm Grand Prix

Eastern Daily Press
Financial Times
Racing Post
The Guardian
The Sun
The Times

THE PRINT AWARDS

National Newspaper Printer of the Year

Guardian Print Centre (The Guardian, The Observer)
Newsprinters Broxbourne (The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph)
Newsprinters Knowsley (Financial Times, The Times)
Sheffield Web (Daily Star, Daily Express)
St Clements Press (Financial Times, Epoch Times)
Trinity Mirror Printing Watford (Daily Mirror, I)
Westferry Printers (Daily Express, Daily Star)

Regional Newspaper Printer of the Year

Archant Print (Eastern Daily Press, Angling Times, MCN)
Discovery Print (The Courier, The Press and Journal)
Interpress NI (The Irish News, Daily Record, Daily Mirror)
Mortons Print (Hackney Citizen, Hull Daily Mail, Teesdale Mercury)
Newbury Weekly News (Maidenhead Advertiser, The Brecon & Radnor Express, Newbury Weekly News)
Newsquest Glasgow (Evening Times, The Herald)
Portsmouth Web Offset (Bath Chronicle, West Sussex Gazette, West Briton)

Printed Innovation of the Year (UK and International)

DC Thomson – hybrid print initiative
Guardian Print Centre – gatefolds
The Daily Telegraph – barn door creative
The Sunday Times – The Dish cover wrap
The Times – In the Heart of the Sea cover wrap
The Wall Street Journal – London cover wrap

National Newspaper of the Year (weekdays)

Financial Times
i
Metro
The Daily Telegraph
The Guardian
The Sun
The Times

Regional Daily Newspaper of the Year (weekdays)

Leicester Mercury
London Evening Standard
Shropshire Star
The Courier – Dundee
The Press and Journal
The News – Portsmouth
Western Morning News

International Newspaper of the Year

Aftenposten Junior (Norway)
China Daily European Weekly
Donaukurier (Germany)
Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (Germany)
Guardian Weekly
Heilbronner Stimme (Germany)
The Wall Street Journal

Sunday Newspaper of the Year

Daily Star Sunday
The Independent on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday
The Observer
The Sunday Telegraph
The Sunday Times

Weekly Newspaper of the Year

 

Chichester Observer
Newbury Weekly News
Retford Times
The Cumberland News
The Essex Chronicle
The Oxford Times
The Scarborough News

National Supplement/Magazine of the Year

How to Spend It (Financial Times)
ST Magazine (The Sunday Telegraph)
Style (The Sunday Times)
Telegraph Fashion
The Dish (The Sunday Times)
Ultratravel (The Telegraph)
You Magazine (The Mail on Sunday)

Regional Supplement/Magazine of the Year

Magazines

Cambridge Business (Cambridge Newspapers)
Cambridge Magazine (Cambridge Newspapers)
Cornwall Today (DC Media)
Devon Life (Archant)
Dirt Bike Rider (Johnston Press)
Swansea Life (SWW Media)
The Journal (Hull Daily Mail)

Coldset supplements

Culture (The Journal, NCJ Media)
Final Whistle (Express & Star/Shropshire Star)
Historic Tamworth (Tamworth Herald)
The Way We Were (Stoke Sentinel)
Weekend (Belfast Telegraph)
Yorkshire Post Magazine

Niche Market Newspaper of the Year

Cage & Aviary Birds
First News
Fishing News
MCN (Motor Cycle News)
Motorsport News (MSN)
Photography News
TLS (The Times Literary Supplement)

THE BUSINESS AWARDS

Best Use of Advertising Technology

Adyoulike – native advertising platform
AppNexus – header bidding solution
Lineup Systems – AdPoint advertising booking platform
Rubicon Project
The Guardian – dynamic ad insertion
Telegraph Media Group – new systems initiative

Commercial Advertising Initiative of the Year

Newsquest Media – Dealer Offers
The Journal – Let’s Work Together
The Sun – Oreo Eclipse campaign
The Times – In the Heart of the Sea cover wrap
Trinity Mirror/Mediacom/Sky – You, Me & the Apocalypse
Trinity Mirror – Pinpoint hyper-local mobile platform

Brand Partnership of the Year

ESI Media/MediaCom/Sky – Game of Thrones
Mail Brands/Seat – Road Trip
The Times & The Sunday Times/Vodaphone – Ready Business Britain
The Guardian/MediaCom/Sony – #SonyRunYourWay
The Telegraph/Kenco – Coffee vs Gangs
The Telegraph/Nikon – The Moment

THE DIGITAL AWARDS

News Website of the Year (UK and International)

Huffington Post
Manchester Evening News
The Guardian
The Independent
The Telegraph
VICE News

Digital Innovation of the Year

FT – Innovative projects
The Guardian – Visuals
The Sunday Times – Access One
The Telegraph – New Formats
Trinity Mirror – Notiz
Trinity Mirror – Pinpoint

Most Innovative Use of Mobile Technology

independent.co.uk
The Guardian – The Minute app
The Mirror app
The WeekDay app

Best Use of User Generated Content

Chronicle Live – Party City
Eastern Daily Press – GoGo Dragons! selfies app
The Guardian – The Counted
Warrington Guardian – The Smith’s nightclub fire

News App of the Year (UK and International)

Racing Post
The Guardian
The Mirror
The Telegraph
The WeekDay app
WSJ City