Voting has opened in the race to be named the best newspaper campaign of 2016 in an annual competition to mark Local Newspaper Week.

A total of 28 local newspaper campaigns have been shortlisted for the ‘Making a Difference’ prize which will be announced during Friday’s Regional Press Awards ceremony in London.

Three titles have achieved multiple nominations including Newcastle daily The Chronicle which is shortlisted for its campaign to keep Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez at the club last summer, its appeal on behalf of a disabled youngster whose family are trying to get adaptations made to their home, and its backing for next year’s Great Exhibition of the North.

Essex daily The Echo has two nominations for its Caring at Christmas and Cancer Scanner campaigns while the Westmorland Gazette also has two – for its drive to raise £30,000 for St John’s Hospice at Lancaster and its bid to honour those whose kindness and generosity shone through the misery brought by Storm Desmond.

The Making a Difference campaign is designed to highlight the power of local newspapers to campaign for positive change in the communities they serve.

Six of the 28 campaigns have also been nominated for the Regional Press Awards campaign of the year prize – a separate award chosen by judges – raising the possibility of a double win.

You can choose you winner at the Local Newspaper Week website here.

Here is the full list of contenders:

Eastern Daily Press – Mental Health Watch
Carlisle News & Star – Save Our Services
Aberdeen Press and Journal – Fight For Fort George
Dundee Courier and Advertiser – Can it
Sunday Post – Memory Walks
Isle of Wight County Press – Fight for the Wight
Johnston Press Titles – Drive for Justice
Yorkshire Evening Post – #SpeakYourMind
Express & Star, Wolverhampton – Feed a Family
Oxford Mail – Drive for Justice
South Wales Argus – We’re Backing Newport
The Echo, Basildon – Caring at Christmas
The Echo, Basildon – Cancer Scanner Campaign
The Westmorland Gazette – Flood Heroes
The Westmorland Gazette – Hospice Angels
Wiltshire Gazette and Herald – 200 Appeal
Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald – Save Our Ferry
Bradford Telegraph & Argus – Stop The Danger Drivers
Birmingham Mail – Birmingham Pub Bombing
Cambridge News – Home For Our Families
Derby Telegraph – Aston Hall Investigation
Hull Daily Mail – Chris Ashton
Newcastle Evening Chronicle – Amelia Scott
Newcastle Evening Chronicle – Rafa Benitez
Newcastle Evening Chronicle – The Great Exhibition of the North
Nuneaton News – Nuneaton Cemetery
South Wales Echo – Cardiff United Against Cancer
Sutton Coldfield Observer – Sutton Rail Crash Memorial