A regional daily has retained a national awards double for its coverage of cricket.

The Liverpool Echo has been named Regional Newspaper of the Year and given the award for Outstanding Newspaper Coverage at the ECB Domestic Cricket Journalism Awards 2023.

The Echo was defending both prizes at a ceremony held at The Oval cricket ground, in London, on Tuesday, having also won the same honours in 2022.

It is also the third time in four years that the Echo has taken home the regional prize, while Stoke-on-Trent daily The Sentinel was highly commended in the category for 2023.

Tom Evans, centre, with Cricket Writers’ Club chairman Dean Wilson, left, and England cricketer Sam Billings

Judges from the Cricket Writers’ Club said: “The Liverpool Echo has again combined comprehensive reporting of its regional club cricket, including stand-out player interviews, with feature content that highlights wider cricket and human interest issues.

“Echo cricket writer Tom Evans clearly puts a lot of thought into the paper’s overall coverage and its pages are also attractively and professionally presented, with good use of pictures.

“Stories which particularly caught the judges’ eyes included the role cricket had played in the recovery from drug and alcohol addiction of a prominent local club player and a regional take – again with strong interview content – on the ICEC report.”

Regarding the Outstanding Coverage award, they added: “The first thing that stood out was Tom’s writing style. He is engaging, warm and entertaining.

“He has added to local cricket the human angle that we all crave when covering the top levels of the game. The way he brought the ICEC report back to his patch was also incredibly impressive.”

Tom, who has covered cricket for the newspaper since 2018, collected the awards.

He said: “It’s honestly overwhelming to have my coverage recognised and honoured like this.

“With the new season just around the corner – weather permitting – this recognition will inspire me to go the extra mile again.”