The North East Press Awards, known as ‘the Cordners’, are being delayed – partly due to the ongoing industry crisis.
The awards, usually held in spring, have been put back to the end of the year until a review is finished.
Awards secretary Keith Seacroft told Press Gazette the awards would continue, but the number of categories could fall.
In the North East, the Newsquest-owned Northern Echo has closed district offices and made voluntary and compulsory redundancies, and Trinity Mirror‘s titles in Newcastle and Middlesbrough – including Newcastle’s Evening Chronicle and Middlesbrough’s Evening Gazette – have also lost jobs and closed district offices.
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A statement from the awards organisers said: ‘The Cordners’ organising team is, of course, aware of pressures and uncertainties in the economic climate, and within individual publications.
‘They mean the awards are getting under way against a very different background from usual and we are adding these to the factors already under review.
‘But the original grassroots spirit of the Cordners will carry on. They started when journalists set out to reward skill and achievement by individual newspaper people in the region.
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‘They began as a tribute to Tom Cordner, remembered as a great colleague and an inspiring mentor.
‘That kind of commitment and professionalism is carried on by a new generation – so let’s prepare again to toast the best of them with a good night out together.”
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