THE REGIONAL PRESS AWARD WINNERS 2025

Congratulations to all our winners and those highly commended!

Team Awards

Best Commercial Partner

Winner: Chartbeat

For the past 15 years, content analytics platform Chartbeat has offered publishers invaluable insight into what their readers really want. With tools such as real-time and historical dashboards, experimentation and in-page optimisation, and robust reporting, clients have been able to understand, measure and build business value from th...

Read More

Best Live Coverage

Liverpool Echo

The Liverpool Echo uses live coverage as an integral part of its storytelling – and three specific examples show how different tools and platforms come together to really engage with and serve readers. Firstly, the Echo’s live court coverage of the trial following the murder of Ashley Dale drove 4.5 million page views across Reach’s Li...

Read More

highly commended

Manchester Evening News

finalist

Belfast Telegraph

finalist

BristolLive

finalist

BristolLive

finalist

PlymouthLive

finalist

Yorkshire Evening Post

Campaign of the Year

Save our rail industry, Derbyshire Live / Derby Telegraph

Derbyshire Live / Derby Telegraph

When it was announced that the 200-year old, Derby-based train manufacturer Alstom was to cease production in the city, the Derbyshire Live website and Derby Telegraph began working with other concerned organisations to save the company and the thousands of people it employs.The resulting ‘Save our rail industry’ campaign was, accordin...

Read More

finalist

Bad Blood, Newcastle Chronicle and Journal

Newcastle Chronicle and Journal

finalist

Cavity wall insulation scandal, Burnley Express

Burnley Express

finalist

Child Poverty Emergency, BirminghamLive/Birmingham Mail

BirminghamLive/Birmingham Mail

finalist

Crown Works Studios: Play Your Part, Mr Hunt, Newcastle Chronicle/Newcastle Journal/Northern Echo/Sunderland Echo/Shields Gazette

Newcastle Chronicle/Newcastle Journal/Northern Echo/Sunderland Echo/Shields Gazette

finalist

The 21, Newsquest London

Newsquest London

finalist

The Savile Law Scandal, Belfast Telegraph

Belfast Telegraph

Digital Initiative of the Year

BirminghamLive/Reach PLC Data Unit

BirminghamLive’s Child Poverty Emergency campaign centred around a wide-ranging report, created alongside Reach’s Data Unit, and ran to more than 12,000 words. The team quickly recognised that they needed to use a host of different technologies to communicate the important findings to audiences.They used animated graphs, illustrations ...

Read More

finalist

Reach data unit

finalist

The AI Assisted Reporter

finalist

The Everything is Black and White Podcast - Chronicle Live

finalist

Uncovered with Sam McBride (newsletter by the Belfast Telegraph)

Front Page of the Year

Last Breath

Western Mail

The front page of the Western Mail’s October 1 edition was described by judges as “memorable, combining creative use of the picture with a simple headline to stunning effect… It tells a compelling and important story in a striking way.”Recognising the significance of the day the final blast furnace at Port Talbot steelworks would be sh...

Read More

highly commended

A city under water

Oxford Mail

finalist

Fiends Reunited

Sunday Life

finalist

Hull riots special edition

The Hull Story

finalist

JPR WILLIAMS: 1949-2024

Western Mail

finalist

Tweed beat me black & blue on our wedding day

Sunday World

News Website of the Year

Belfast Telegraph

This is the third year running that the Belfast Telegraph has scooped the best website award, with judges this year recognising its “genuinely impressive coverage, range and invention”. Reporting included coverage of the Katie Simpson murder case and the death of her killer Jonathan Creswell, live coverage of the General Election and t...

Read More

highly commended

The Irish News

finalist

Kent Online

finalist

Manchester Evening News

finalist

YorkshireLive

Reporting Communities Award

BirminghamLive/Birmingham Mail

“It's not often that publications concentrate their coverage on ethnic minority populations in a way that isn't patronising or clichéd,” but that is precisely what BirminghamLive has done with its Brummie Muslims brand, according to judges.Against a difficult background for Asian communities, BirminghamLive implemented a series of edit...

Read More

finalist

5000 Voices – Reach plc

finalist

Liverpool ECHO

finalist

The Impartial Reporter

Scoop of the Year

Company which donated £200,000 to Vaughan Gething's First Minister bid wants to build huge solar farm

WalesOnline

WalesOnline reporter Will Hayward’s investigation into a £200,000 donation to First Minister Vaughan Gething’s election campaign “was more than a story that was handed to the journalist – it involved perseverance and doggedness”, judges said. That included navigating the obscure and opaque planning system in Wales, and sifting through ...

Read More

finalist

Bolton train passenger given criminal record over £1.60 mix-up

Bolton News

finalist

Homeless being dumped in North East by Councils in London without telling local authorities

Northern Echo

finalist

Manchester Airport video

Manchester Evening News

finalist

Sinn Fein references for paedophile scandal, Ciaran O'Neill

Sunday World

finalist

Trump put £200m price tag on non-existent Scots homes

The Herald

Supplement of the Year

North Lakes Living, Cumberland & Westmorland Herald and Keswick Reminder

Barrnon Media

Launched in May 2024, the North Lakes Living supplement is distributed free of charge in the last edition of the month of two paid-for, weekly newspapers – the Cumberland & Westmorland Herald and Keswick Reminder – which have a combined circulation of around 8,000 weekly readers.The 32-page supplement is described as being “packed with...

Read More

highly commended

Weekend, Western Mail

Western Mail

finalist

Magic of the FA Cup, Reach plc

Reach plc

finalist

Memories, The Northern Echo

The Northern Echo

finalist

Review, Belfast Telegraph

Belfast Telegraph/

finalist

Weekend magazine, Belfast Telegraph

Belfast Telegraph

Individual Awards

Young Journalist of the Year

James Holt

Manchester Evening News

In just three years as a reporter at the Manchester Evening News, James Holt has established himself as a vital part of the newsroom, “demonstrating many competencies from sourcing and breaking exclusives to digital journalism”, according to judges. They were blown away by his body of work: from breaking the national exclusive video of...

Read More

highly commended

Ben Roberts-Haslam

Liverpool Echo

finalist

Maxwell Chesson

KentOnline

finalist

Nicole Wootton-Cane

Manchester Evening News

finalist

Phoebe Abruzzese

Northern Echo

finalist

Rucsandra Moldoveanu

Nottinghamshire Live

finalist

Séamus O'Hanlon

Colchester Gazette

Sports Journalist of the Year

Nathan Judah

Express and Star

Nathan Judah has been a trailblazer in digital coverage for the Express and Star, leading the push for video content and directly driving subscriptions from sports fans since the introduction of a paywall in 2024. Judah is well-known for his coverage of Wolverhampton Wanderers and co-hosts the weekly 'Wolves poddy' podcast, which regul...

Read More

highly commended

Andy Watters

The Irish News

highly commended

Matthew Lindsay

The Herald

finalist

Neil Allen

Portsmouth News

finalist

Neil Loughran

The Irish News

finalist

Rob Robertson

The Herald

Specialist Journalist of the Year

Liam Thorp

Liverpool Echo

Liverpool Echo’s political editor Liam Thorp is a prominent voice in the region, and caught the eye of judges as “a journalist who understands his newspaper's readers and is at the top of his game”.For much of 2024, Thorp dedicated his time to exploring and documenting Liverpool's homelessness emergency. Months of reporting, speaking t...

Read More

highly commended

Conor Gogarty

WalesOnline

finalist

Helena Vesty

Manchester Evening News

finalist

Martin Williams

The Herald

finalist

Neil Mackay

The Herald

finalist

Will Hayward

WalesOnline

Photographer of the Year

Kevin Scott

Belfast Telegraph

The Belfast Telegraph’s Kevin Scott has an instinct for being in the right place at the right time – and he combines this with an ability to capture both the intensity and humanity of any situation. His “dedication to go beyond the expected to get the right shot” was evident when Scott attended Newry courthouse, where former DUP leader...

Read More

highly commended

James Hardisty

National World

finalist

Colin Lane

Liverpool Echo

finalist

Iain Watts

Liverpool Echo

finalist

MAL MCCANN

Irish News

finalist

Mark Williamson

Stratford Herald

finalist

Simon Hulme

Yorkshire Post

Reporter of the Year (Daily)

Allison Morris

Belfast Telegraph

Judges were seriously impressed with Allison Morris’s “powerful” portfolio of work, “that could only have been assembled by a journalist with great contacts, tact and tenacity”. And with more than 20 years’ experience of boots-on-the-street reporting, that’s perhaps unsurprising. Morris’s special investigation into the individuals behi...

Read More

highly commended

Liam Thorp

Liverpool Echo

finalist

Caroline Wilson

The Herald

finalist

Martin Williams

The Herald

finalist

Neil Mackay

The Herald

finalist

Sam McBride

Belfast Telegraph

Reporter of the Year (Weekly)

Frankie Lister-Fell

Camden New Journal

Frankie Lister-Fell’s portfolio of work “demonstrates the rewards to be had when a journalist integrates with the local community”, judges said. “She looks at issues which might otherwise get overlooked – giving a voice to those without one.”Nowhere is that more evident than in her work on homelessness in north London. Lister-Fell reve...

Read More

highly commended

Charles Thomson

Newsquest South East

finalist

Ciaran O’Neill

Sunday World

finalist

Rodney Edwards

The Impartial Reporter

finalist

Tom Foot

Camden New Journal

Cathryn Nicholl Award

Millie Bowles

KentOnline

Despite being just over two years into her journalism career – and with no former experience or qualifications in the industry – Millie Bowles undoubtedly has both a good nose for a story and a true reporter’s instinct. This was especially evident when securing an interview with former Russian oligarch Ilya Yurov and his wife Nataliya,...

Read More

finalist

Liam Grimley

The Irish News

finalist

Phoebe Abruzzese

Northern Echo

Crime & Investigative Reporter of the Year

Charles Thomson

Newsquest South East

Charles Thomson’s “dogged reporting in the pursuit of justice is local journalism at its finest”, according to judges. Responding to reports from residents, Thomson gathered evidence of drug dealing across Newham estates, following one particular death through the coroner’s court. His chronicling of the true extent of east London's ris...

Read More

highly commended

Will Hayward

WalesOnline

finalist

Ben Schofield

BBC

finalist

Neil Mackay

The Herald (Scotland)

finalist

Patrick Edrich

Liverpool Echo

finalist

Sam McBride

Belfast Telegraph

Designer of the Year

Raymond Esteban

Mediahuis

A good design should not just be visually pleasing, but should clearly aid readers in engaging with content – something Raymond Esteban achieves to spectacular effect through the use of infographics and photo manipulation for the Belfast Telegraph’s weekly magazine and supplements.It is his “impactful and attention-grabbing cover artwo...

Read More

finalist

Gareth Dobson

Barrnon Media

finalist

Nancy Fallows

Newsquest

Feature Writer of the Year

Neil Mackay

The Herald

Neil Mackay’s entry was “head and shoulders above”, according to Regional Press Awards judges; “excellent, eye-catching topics and first rate writing”.An investigative journalist for more than 30 years, Mackay’s long-form features for The Herald are regularly among the most widely read and shared articles on the website, and bring in l...

Read More

highly commended

Martin Williams

The Herald

finalist

Helena Vesty

Manchester Evening News

finalist

Liam Thorp

Liverpool Echo

finalist

Ruby Kitchen

The Yorkshire Post

finalist

Sam McBride

Belfast Telegraph

Opinion Writer of the Year

Catriona Stewart

Freelance

As a twice-weekly columnist for The Herald for the past 14 years, Catriona Stewart’s “unique and often quirky” look at current affairs frequently leans on her personal experience. Judges loved reading her “strong package of writing on tough subjects that is nuanced, respectful of the differing views of her readers, and touching because...

Read More

highly commended

Neil Mackay

The Herald

finalist

Andrew Liddle

The Courier

finalist

David Behrens

Freelance

finalist

Sam McBride

Belfast Telegraph

finalist

Sara Robinson

Western Mail

finalist

Will Hayward

WalesOnline

Organisations Award

News Brand of the Year (Small)

Camden New Journal

North London-based Camden New Journal is a “great example of a weekly title doing what it does best: campaigning journalism; finding the unusual off-diary stories in their beats and bringing communities together”, according to Regional Press Awards judges. From being the first to get the 2024 General Election results for its area – inc...

Read More

highly commended

Cambrian News

finalist

Cambridge Independent

finalist

The BV magazine

finalist

The Impartial Reporter

finalist

The Oxford Times

News Brand of the Year (Large)

Liverpool Echo

The Liverpool Echo has had a stellar year, not least because of the “brilliantly handled, first rate coverage” of the Southport murders and subsequent violence across Britain, “but because the team has demonstrated time and again commitment to serving their communities and audiences”, judges said.The real-time coverage of the mass stab...

Read More

highly commended

Birmingham Mail

finalist

Belfast Telegraph

finalist

Manchester Evening News

finalist

The Irish News

finalist

Western Mail