A country-wide news website is leading the race for this year’s Regional Press Awards with 14 nominations in the shortlist unveiled yesterday.
WalesOnline is up for awards in no fewer than 12 categories at next month’s event, with two nominations apiece in the Young Journalist of the Year and Digital Initiative of the Year sections.
One of its journalists, social affairs correspondent Will Hayward, is nominated in no fewer than five categories – Feature Writer, Columnist, Social Media Journalist, Data Journalist and the Reporting Communities Awards.
The prizes will be handed out at a lunchtime ceremony to be held at the IET, Savoy Place in London on Friday 17 May. 
Today’s shortlist sees a strong showing for Reach plc titles with the Manchester Evening News securing 12 nominations, the Liverpool Echo 10 and the Reach Data Unit seven in addition to the 14 secured by Wales Online.
There are 10 nominations for the Irish News, nine for the Yorkshire Post, and five for the Sunday Post.
The awards are organised by the Society of Editors on behalf of the industry with the support of headline sponsors Facebook and United Utilities.
Other sponsors and supporters include Google, Foot Anstey, the News Media Association, the Press Association, Asda and HoldtheFrontPage which is sponsoring the Young Journalist of the Year award for the ninth successive year.
This year’s awards see a new emphasis on rewarding smaller newspapers and digital journalism with the number of categories increasing from 28 to 38.
New categories up for grabs this year include Digital Live News Reporter of the Year and Data Journalist of the Year, Magazine of the Year, Magazine Designer of the Year and Free Weekly Newspaper of the Year’.
Another new category is the Cathryn Nicoll Interviewer of the Year Award, set up by the News Media Association in memory of Cathryn Nicoll who held the position of news editor at the Croydon Advertiser during her career as a journalist.
Executive director Ian Murray said; “We have seen record entries for this year’s Regional Press Awards, and I know that the judges have had a tremendously difficult task in choosing the nominated journalists and papers from such an excellent field of entries.”
The awards ceremony will once again be hosted by LBC radio presenter Nick Ferrari. For individual tickets or tables for the event please contact Angela Upton at [email protected] or on 01223 304080.
The full shortlist is as follows.
BUSINESS AND FINANCE JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Echo
Coreena Ford, The Journal
Graham Huband, The Courier
Hannah Baker, Bristol Post
Robin Johnson, Derby Telegraph
Stuart Greer, Manchester Evening News
SPECIALIST WRITER/ IMPACT JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Beth Abbit, Manchester Evening News
Brendan Hughes, The Irish News
Jennifer Williams, Manchester Evening News
Lindsay Pantry, The Yorkshire Post
Marion Scott, Sunday Post
Neil Docking, Liverpool Echo
FEATURE WRITER /LONG FORM JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
David Edbrooke, Jersey Evening Post
Jennifer Williams, Manchester Evening News
Laura Davis, Liverpool Echo
Ruby Kitchen, The Yorkshire Post
Trevor Heaton, Eastern Daily Press
Will Hayward, WalesOnline
COLUMNIST OF THE YEAR DAILY PAPERS
Allison Morris, The Irish News
Carolyn Hitt, The Western Mail
Catriona Stewart, The Herald
George R Mitchell, The Press and Journal
Toby Neal, Shropshire Star
Will Hayward, WalesOnline
COLUMNIST OF THE YEAR WEEKLY PAPERS
Blaise Tapp, West Sussex County Times
Jake O’Kane, The Irish News
Maggy Whitehouse, The Moorlander
Mandy Rhodes, Sunday Post
Mike Lockley, Sunday Mercury
Phil Wisdom, Cornish Guardian
SPORTS JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR DAILY PAPERS
Andy Watters, The Irish News
Carolyn Hitt, The Western Mail
Neil Allen, The Portsmouth News
Neil Loughran, The Irish News
Paul Abbandonato, WalesOnline
Samuel Luckhurst, Manchester Evening News
YOUNG JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Alice Cachia, Reach Data Unit
Conor Gogarty, Gloucestershire Live
Aamir Mohammed, WalesOnline
Estel Farell-Roig, WalesOnline
Katie Timms, Plymouth Live
Stephanie Balloo, Birmingham Live
SPORTS JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR WEEKLY PAPERS
Chris Harby, Melton Times
Dave Powell, Chester Chronicle
Jon Colman, The Cumberland News
Mark Taylor, Cambridge Independent
Paul Davis, Rotherham Advertiser
Paul Ferguson, Sunday Life
SOCIAL MEDIA JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Blair Dingwall, The Courier
Dan Russell, Nottingham Post
Joshua Knapman, WalesOnline
Mal McCann, The Irish News
Nathan Judah, Express & Star
Will Hayward, WalesOnline
DATA JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Martin Williams, The Herald
Annie Gouk, Reach Data Unit
Claire Miller, Reach Data Unit
Will Hayward, WalesOnline
David Dubas-Fisher, Reach Data Unit
Debora Aru, Reach Data Unit
DIGITAL LIVE NEWS REPORTER OF THE YEAR
Alex Richards, Devon Live
Cathy Owen, Media Wales
Emma Grimshaw, Bristol Post
Kristian Johnson, Leeds Live
Neil Docking, Liverpool Echo
Richard Duggan, Essex Live
DIGITAL LIVE SPORTS REPORTER OF THE YEAR
Beren Cross, Leeds Live and Plymouth Live
Charlotte Duncker, Manchester Evening News
Gareth Hanna, Belfast Telegraph Digital
Michael Bailey, The Pink Un
Nathan Judah, Express & Star
Sam Carroll, Liverpool Echo
REPORTING COMMUNITIES AWARD – supported by Penny Appeal
Asian Image, The Lancashire Telegraph
BirminghamLive, Birmingham Live
Chronicle Champions, Newcastle Chronicle
Hull Live, Hull Daily Mail
Liz Perkins, South Wales Evening Post
Will Hayward, WalesOnline
WEEKLY REPORTER OF THE YEAR
Charles Thomson, Yellow Advertiser
Emily Uchida Finch, Islington Tribune
Jamie Presland, Henley Standard
John Elworthy, Cambs Times and Ely Standard
Jon Macpherson, Accrington Observer and Rossendale Free Press
Les Reid, Coventry Observer
DAILY/SUNDAY REPORTER OF THE YEAR
Alex Ross, Express & Star and Western Daily Express
Allison Morris, Irish News
Kelly Williams, Daily Post
Marion Scott, Sunday Post
Martyn McLaughlin, The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday
Phil Coleman, News and Star
WEEKLY PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Keith Heppell, Cambridge Independent
Mark Williamson, Stratford-upon-Avon Herald
Michael Gillen, The Falkirk Herald
Phil Cannings, Newbury Weekly News
Richard Harris, Tamworth Herald
Stuart Walker, The Cumberland News
DAILY/SUNDAY PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Andrew Cawley, Sunday Post
James Hardisty, The Yorkshire Post
Kevin Scott, Belfast Telegraph
Kristopher Miller, The Courier
Mal McCann, The Irish News
Simon Hulme, The Yorkshire Post
DESIGNER OF THE YEAR: NEWSPAPER
Gus Proctor, The Courier and Advertiser
Heather Byrne, The Belfast Telegraph
Ian Bond, Hull Daily Mail
Kelly Leung, The Journal
Kevin Farrell, The Irish News
Marianna Longo, Reach Data Unit
DESIGNER OF THE YEAR: MAGAZINE
Gus Proctor, The Courier and Advertiser
Lindsay Molloy, Essex Chronicle, Essex Living
Mhorvan Park, Society Aberdeen
Sandra Evans, Swansea Life
Sue Hall, Swansea Bay Business Life
Lisa Walsh, WM Magazine
SUPPLEMENT OF THE YEAR
Armistice 100, Press and Journal
Chalktalk, Evening Telegraph
Feel the Noise concert series, Evening Telegraph
On Our Way Back – Story of the Season 17/18, Express and Star
The Lonely Death Of Janet Parker, Birmingham Mail
Weekend, Western Mail
MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR
Altrincham Today, Altrincham Today
Cumbria Life magazine, Cumbria Life
Liverpool City Region Business Post, Liverpool Echo
Living, Bournemouth Echo
Velvet Magazine, Bury Free Press
Yorkshire Vision, The Yorkshire Post
FRONT PAGE OF THE YEAR DAILY PAPER
72 Dead, Evening Telegraph
Armistice 100, The Yorkshire Post
Dream Maker, Leicester Mercury
Jimmy Armfield 1935 – 2018, Blackpool Gazette
Stephen Hawking, Cambridge News
The Anniversary of the Manchester Bomb, Manchester Evening News
FRONT PAGE OF THE YEAR WEEKLY PAPER
Happy Birthday Paul Weller, Woking Advertiser
Here’s one chimney Santa didn’t climb down, Cambridge Independent
Messy & Shabby, The Falkirk Herald
River of Tears, Carmarthen Journal
Sepsis victim: A paper cut cost me my hands and feet, Sunday Post
War veteran dies a day after being discharged from hospital, Wisbech Standard
SCOOP OF THE YEAR
Bogus doctor’s life of lies, News & Star
Exposed: City’s terror attack defence network left thousands at risk, Liverpool Echo
Failing NHS board raided £2.7m from charity fund, The Herald
Hidden Homeless, Manchester Evening News
Property buyers face £90m loss – police consider fraud probe, Liverpool Echo
Victory, The Mail Barrow
CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR DAILY PAPER
BrumFeeds, Birmingham Live
Glasgow’s Got Heart, Evening Times
No more knives, Hull Daily Mail
One North, The Yorkshire Post
SenCom – the fight to save a special needs service, South Wales Argus
Year of Change, Bristol Post
CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR WEEKLY PAPER
Drugs Awareness Campaign, The Moorlander
Give Them A Break, The Westmorland Gazette
Newry Clean-Up, Newry Reporter
Project Feed, Chorley Guardian
Shoebury Sex Ring, Yellow Advertiser
We Need It Now, Devon Live
WEBSITE OF THE YEAR
Cambridgeshire Live
Leeds Live
Liverpool Echo
Manchester Evening News
The Yorkshire Post
WalesOnline
SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM OF THE YEAR
Chronicle Live
Hull Live
Kent Live
Nottinghamshire Live
WalesOnline
Warrington Guardian
DIGITAL INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR
Geraint the Robot Reporter, WalesOnline
Instagram Initiative, Manchester Evening News
Live Coverage of John Henry Sayers Trial, Chronicle Live
Manchester Family, Manchester Evening News
Poppy Map, Grimsby Live
Vertical Sports Videos: Big Match Guide, As It Happened & Stat Packs, WalesOnline
THE OVERALL DIGITAL AWARD
Birmingham Live
EDP24, Eastern Daily Press
Hull Live
Liverpool Echo
Reach Data Unit
WalesOnline
INNOVATION AND INITIATIVE AWARD OF THE YEAR
Chalktalk, Evening Telegraph Dundee
Inspiring Women of Suffolk, East Anglian Daily Times
Norfolk Day, Eastern Daily Press
Oxford United 125 Years, Oxford Mail
Young News Readers, Irish News
THE CATHRYN NICOLL INTERVIEWER OF THE YEAR AWARD
Harrison Jones, Oxford Times
Holly Lennon, Evening Times
Molly Williams, Sheffield Star
FREE WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR
Camden New Journal
Islington Tribune
Slough & Windsor Express
St Helens Star
The Jewish news
Yellow Advertiser
PAID FOR WEEKLY NEWSPAPER (BELOW 10,000)
Bury Free Press
Cambridge Independent
Henley Standard
Hexham Courant
Impartial Reporter
Newry Reporter
PAID FOR WEEKLY NEWSPAPER (ABOVE 10,000)
Bucks Free Press
Kent Messenger
Newbury Weekly News
The Cumberland News
The Powys County Times
The Westmorland Gazette
DAILY/SUNDAY NEWSPAPER (BELOW 15,000)
Birmingham Mail
Herald on Sunday
Jersey Evening Post
News & Star
Sunday Mercury
The Journal
The Mail, Barrow
Western Mail
DAILY/SUNDAY NEWSPAPER (ABOVE 15,000)
Belfast Telegraph
Eastern Daily Press
Express & Star
Hull Daily Mail
Manchester Evening News
Sunday Life
The Press and Journal
The Yorkshire Post
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Congratulations to Trevor Heaton for his nomination in the Feature Writer category. It’s a big shame he’s no longer a part of the slimmed-down Archant features team.
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Almost nothing from Archant east, ouch
Good wishes to Mssrs Heaton and Bailey, both worthy nominees
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Nothing again for hyperlocals in the publications categories … let there be no doubt about the snootiness of the ‘mainstream’.
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Don’t despair Once a sub…. we (Altrincham Today) are a hyperlocal and having ‘reversed’ into printing 18 months ago, we’re up for Magazine of the Year. Pleased as punch.
Only Newsquest, Reach, Newsquest, Iliffe Media and JPI Media to beat! Wish us luck!
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With an ever-increasing number of categories and an ever-dwindling number of journalists, the time will soon arrive when everyone will win an award.
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@BobHeywood, or they become insignificant as they no longer reflect what’s happening or being achieved in the real regional press
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Not sure what all the whinging is about. It seems only right to create these extra categories and I’ve always thought they should.
The ‘regional press’ is such an enormous blob, which encompasses everything from enormously privileged newspapers that cover entire countries, to very large regional papers like the Yorkshire Post and the MEN, right down to scandalously poorly-resourced free local weekly papers and even hyper-locals, which are sometimes pretty much one man and his dog.
When you’re in the room, as I have been a couple of times over the years, you become very aware that there is a massive inequality amongst the nominees. Some publications have booked out entire tables, at very high ticket prices, while others have had to lobby hard just to get their one or two nominees’ tickets and travel signed off.
You have a handful of giants, whose ‘health correspondents’ and ‘science correspondents’ and ‘business correspondents’ and ‘deputy directors of social media management’ are all competing with their counterparts in various categories that most of the regional press could never even dream of entering. ‘A science correspondent?! Holy sh…’. Some publications in the room are producing entire newspapers with about five members of staff.
So on the one hand, you’ve got people moaning in the comments here that there are too many categories now. But on the other hand, you’ve got people moaning that hyper-locals aren’t getting enough recognition.
Well, how are hyper-locals, with their one or two editorial employees, supposed to compete with country-wide or city-wide behemoths with 100 or more employees? It is absolutely right that this distinction is made; that the privileged few giants, with their enormous staffs and seemingly endless lists of correspondents and columnists, compete amongst themselves so that the wider, far more poorly-resourced regional press is then able to compete on a far more level playing field.
This is where the former HTFP/EDF awards are sorely missed. Those ensured a far more even competition. And they were free to enter. At some outlets, even paying for a reporter to enter their work into the RPAs is deemed a frivolous expense and vetoed.
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I agree that the HTFP/EDF awards are sorely missed, but they were only made possible by the very generous sponsorship of EDF, both in terms of money and staffing resources, and much as we would have liked to have carried them on, those sorts of sponsors do not grow on trees!
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Theres a real opportunity for a whole new group of awards solely for the new hyper local publishers across the uk.eg; those papers employing less than x number of staff or established less than x number of years.
Having said that the rate at which the bigger groups are shedding staff they’d probably qualify too!
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