A regional reporter has congratulated a fellow journalist who beat him to a sportswriting award.

HTFP reported last month how Carlisle News & Star reporter Jon Colman had been shortlisted in the Journalist of the Season category at the Northwest Football Awards.

Jon was the only local newspaper reporter on the shortlist and faced competition from four writers for The Athletic – Adam Crafton, Daniel Taylor, Simon Hughes and Greg O’Keefe.

Simon, pictured, who writes about football on Merseyside for the national website, triumphed at the ceremony on Monday.

Congratulating his fellow nominee on Twitter, Jon wrote: “Congratulations to the brilliant Simon Hughes who is named Northwest Football Journalist of the Year.

“If you’ve not read his book on northern football ‘On the Brink’, which features Carlisle United, you’re missing out.”

Jon has covered Carlisle United for the News & Star for 17 years and is no stranger to awards, having won the regional category of the Sports Journalists’ Association British Sports Journalism Awards eight times.