A regional publisher has been honoured with a national award for its campaigning on mental health.

The JPIMedia investigations team picked up a Mind Media Award for its Veterans in Crisis campaign, which saw titles from across the group unite to highlight a lack of support for ex-service personnel experiencing post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression.

The campaign revealed that the UK did not monitor the number of veterans taking their lives, unlike allies such as the USA, Canada and Australia, and the government subsequently announced a raft of improved support measures and a major study into veteran suicides.

Charities credited the JPIMedia investigation, which saw the publication of series of hard-hitting articles and personal testimonies from veterans and their families, for prompting the changes.

Titles involved included the i, Portsmouth daily The News, The Scotsman, Belfast News Letter, Blackpool daily The Gazette and the Yorkshire Post.

Tim Robinson, group content development director at JPIMedia said: “We are really grateful to receive this award, it’s a vindication of the all the hard work put in by our investigations reporting team.

“Mental health issues among military veterans are not given the attention they deserve and the hidden epidemic of suicides in this community is a national scandal which demands to be recognised and tackled.

“We are very grateful to Mind, and most importantly, to the ex-servicemen and their families who shared their many painful stories with our reporters in the course of this investigation – stories which had deep emotional resonance with our readers across the UK.

“It’s now over to the government to respond with commitment and action for ex-service personnel.”

BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James hosted the awards ceremony at London’s Southbank Centre on Wednesday evening.