The final set of shortlists for the Regional Press Awards 2003 have been announced. They are:
Weekly Newspaper of the Year: South London Press; Rutland & Stamford Mercury; Kent Messenger; Shrewsbury Chronicle; Banbury Guardian; Bucks Herald.
Daily/Sunday Newspaper of the Year: Sunday Mercury, Birmingham; Eastern Daily Press; The Press & Journal, Aberdeen; The Western Mail; The Sentinel Sunday, Stoke-on-Trent; Western Daily Press.
Evening Newspaper of the Year: The Argus, Brighton; Lincolnshire Echo; Hull Daily Mail; The Citizen, Gloucester; South Wales Argus; Evening News, Edinburgh.
Free Newspaper of the Year: Beverley Advertiser; London Jewish News; East Riding Gazette; The Harlow Star; Kent on Sunday; Manchester Metro.
Business & Financial Newspaper of the Year: Western Daily Press; Gloucestershire Echo; Nottingham Evening Post; The Birmingham Post; The Sentinel Sunday, Stoke-on-Trent. Yorkshire Post.
Reporter of the Year: Mark Cowan, Evening Mail, Birmingham; Mark Thomas, Liverpool Echo; David Leask, Evening Times, Glasgow; Sarah Lester, Manchester Evening News; Carl Eve, Basildon Evening Echo; Wendy Scott, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser.
Columnist of the Year: Faith Eckersall, Daily Echo, Bournemouth; Ron Ferguson, The Press and Journal, Aberdeen; Stacia Briggs, Evening News, Norwich; Jeremy Wilson, Southern Daily Echo; Mary O’Leary, Evening Herald, Plymouth; Anne Pickles, Yorkshire Evening Post.
Young journalist of the Year: James Ducker, Manchester Evening News; Debbie Watson, Evening Star, Ipswich; Caroline Wheeler, Sunday Mercury, Birmingham; Joseph Lee, The Barnet Press; Emma Slee, Express & Echo, Exeter; Richard Edwards, Western Daily Press.
Photographer of the year: Jon Mills, Western Daily Press; Stuart Harrison, Evening Advertiser, Swindon; Richard Austin, Western Morning News, Plymouth; Tony Hall, Evening Chronicle, Newcastle; Terry Applin, The Argus, Brighton; Simon Dack, The Argus, Brighton.
Sports photographer of the Year: Richard Nelmes, Coventry Evening Telegraph; Mike Tipping, Evening Press, York; Sonya Brown, Evening News, Norwich; Jim Tomlinson, Hinckley Times; Stuart Boulton, The Northern Echo; Tim Easthope, Evening Mail, Birmingham.
Sports journalist of the Year: Martin Smith, The Star, Sheffield; Steven Mellen, East Anglian Daily Times; Phil Rostron, Yorkshire Evening Post; Matthew Reeder, The Star, Sheffield; John Gibson, Evening Chronicle, Newcastle; Dave Allard, Evening Star, Ipswich
Feature writer of the Year: George Frew, Western Daily Press; Mary Fitzgerald, The Belfast Telegraph; Reg Little, The Oxford Times; James Fraser-Andrews, Evening Star, Ipswich; Caroline Foulkes, The Birmingham Post; Simon Dunford, Eastern Daily Press.
Specialist reporter of the Year: Jane Woodhead, Liverpool Echo; Mark Nicholls, Eastern Daily Press; Steve Shukor, Nottingham Evening Post; Jayne Freer, Evening Herald, Plymouth; Sharon Edwards, Lincolnshire Echo; Chris Thornton, The Belfast Telegraph.
Business & financial journalist of the year: Nigel Scott, Yorkshire Evening Post; Stephen Houghton, The Sentinel/Sentinel Sunday, Stoke-on-Trent; Peter Sharples, Manchester Evening News; Bill Gleeson, Daily Post, Liverpool; Jeremy Smith, Evening Advertiser, Swindon; James Stinson, The Irish News.
Scoop of the year: The Belfast Telegraph, “Secret Murder Files Revealed”; Grimsby Telegraph – Huntley and Carr Arrests; The Sentinel, Stoke-on-Trent, “Stoke City is mystery bidder for Port Vale”; Macclesfield Express, “I Cry Most Nights – widow of Stephen Oake”; Cambridge Evening News, “Holly Wells’ father talks of family trauma”; The Birmingham Post, “The airport sites they didn’t want you to know about”.
Team of the year: The Argus, Brighton, “Brighton Pier Burns”; Nottingham Evening Post, “IraqWar”; Leicester Mercury, “Till We Die”; Manchester Evening News, “Commonwealth Games”; Western Morning News, “Countryside March”; Yorkshire Post, “Queen Mother’s Funeral”.
Community campaign of the Year: Lincolnshire Echo, “Council Sleaze”; Western Daily Press, “The Spirit of Lelaina”; Crawley News, “Save Our Schools”; Tivy-Side Advertiser, “Castle in Crisis”; South Wales Evening Post, “Kids come first”; The Citizen, Gloucester, “Seroxat campaign”.
Front page of the year: Evening Herald, Plymouth, “I was asked to use dessert spoon in op”; Northampton Chronicle & Echo, “Crimewave”; The Argus, Brighton, “The grand old lady in flames”; Evening Mail, Birmingham, “Going Up!”; South London Press, “No more killings”; Evening Post, Bristol, “Make our streets safe”.
Website of the Year: EDP 24, Eastern Daily Press; Scotsman.com, The Scotsman; This is Wiltshire, Newsquest Wiltshire; This is Brighton & Hove, The Argus, Brighton; Manchester Online, Manchester Evening News; This is London, Associated New Media.
Supplement of the Year: I Can Do That, Liverpool Echo; West Country Life, Western Daily Press; Weekend, The Gazette, Blackpool; Royal Supplement, Evening Advertiser, Swindon; Homeseeker, Evening Herald, Plymouth; Your Home, The Press and Journal, Aberdeen.
The winners will be announced at a gala lunch at the Hilton Hotel in London’s Park Lane on 4 July. For table bookings, call Andrea Hayes on 020 8565 3056 or email andreah@qpp.co.uk.
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