Two colleagues at a regional daily have been named the best journalists covering news at sport at the annual awards of their newspaper’s publisher.

Tom Cotterill and Neil Allen, both of Portsmouth daily The News, were awarded News Journalist of the Year and Sports Journalist of the Year respectively at the JPIMedia Awards.

The virtual awards ceremony had been scheduled to take place in March, but were delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The pilot of the company’s Digital Acceleration programme, which saw journalists in the North-East of England move away from the print production process and concentrate on digital work, was awarded Operational Initiative of the Year.

The same structure has since been deployed in Sheffield and South Yorkshire, while the company is also due to implement it in Scotland.

The Harrogate Advertiser won Weekly Title of the Year, with the Edinburgh Evening News picking up Daily Title of the Year for its digital and print performance during 2019.

Investigation/Story of the Year went to ‘The Lost Billions’ probe, which was co-ordinated by JPIMedia’s investigations unit under the leadership of Claire Wilde.

The Yorkshire Post scooped two awards, with Jonathan Gawthorpe winning Image of the Year and Chris Burn taking the Features Journalist of the Year prize, while the Yorkshire Evening Post’s Daniel Sheridan was named Digital Journalist of the Year.

James Butler, of Sussex Newspapers, won Weekly Journalist of the Year, while the Lancashire Post’s Laura Longworth was Communities Journalist of the Year.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Title of the Year (Daily)
Edinburgh Evening News

Title of the Year (Weekly)
Harrogate Advertiser

Weekly Journalist of the Year
James Butler, Sussex Newspapers

News Journalist of the Year
Tom Cotterill, Portsmouth News

Sports Journalist of the Year
Neil Allen, Portsmouth News

Features Journalist of the Year
Chris Burn, Yorkshire Post

Digital Journalist of the Year
Daniel Sheridan, Yorkshire Evening Post

Communities Journalist of the Year
Laura Longworth, Lancashire Post

Investigation/Story of the Year
“The lost billions”, JPIMedia Investigations

Design of the Year
ETC magazine spreads, Michelle Lockwood

Video of the Year
“MS and the pony”, Craig Sinclair

Image of the Year
“Rob Burrows”, Jonathan Gawthorpe

Content & Commercial Partnership of the Year
The Scotsman Commercial Content Series

Rising Star of the Year
Claire Schofield

Operational Initiative of the Year
Digital Acceleration Pilot

Support Individual of the Year
Tom Blackshaw

Support Team of the Year
Learning & Development (L&D)

Support Manager of the Year
Claire Jackson, HR

Innovation of the Year
Digital Product and Tech Re-platforming

Impact of the Year
Digital Transformation (Digifest)

Commercial Team of the Year
Media Sales Centre

MSC Rep of the Year
Edward Forbes, NMSY LDFE

LDFE/MOPR Rep of the Year
Adam Fenech, The Scotsman

Commercial Manager of the Year
Lee Welsh

Commercial Initiative of the Year
The UK Staycation Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award
David Crow

Chief Executive’s Award
Dom Bradshaw
Vairi Smith