BRITAIN'S Daily Newspaper of the Year is today crowned as - Regional Newspaper of the Year!

BRITAIN'S Daily Newspaper of the Year is today crowned as - Regional Newspaper of the Year!

Evening Star staff and its army of friends across the area were celebrating after another huge industry accolade - capping an amazing year for one of the flagship titles of Britain's regional press.

At the glittering EDF Energy Media Awards, held at Dunston Hall, Norfolk, The Star was heralded as a champion of its community and an outstanding title as it won the coveted Daily Newspaper of the Year title for the East of England.

The event was showered in Evening Star success stories:

Jonathan Elsey was named Designer of the Year.

Reporter Rebecca Lefort was highly commended as Journalist of the Year for her health expos�s .

Evening Star24 and Green Un24 were highly commended as Websites of the Year

Nick Garnham, of Archant Suffolk Sport ,was highly commended as Sports Journalist of the Year for three articles in The Star.

Evening Star Editor Nigel Pickover said he was delighted at the honour which was for readers and advertisers, newsagents and news boys and girls and website users, as well as the staff.

He said: “The Star is facing the challenging economic times head on - and is redoubling its efforts to fight for its readers, many of whom do not have a voice. We are all thrilled that the judges said we were a class act - and that we are excellent value for money.

“In the last 12 years we have won more than 15 newspaper of the year titles - an astonishing feat.”

BBC Radio Suffolk's Breakfast Show, hosted by Mark Murphy, beat off three strong entries from Radio Norfolk to scoop the title of Radio Programme of the Year.

And the station's Jon Wright won Radio Journalist of the Year.

The Evening Star's Suffolk sister title, The Lowestoft Journal, edited by former Star staffman Russell Cook, scooped Front Page of the Year for its poignant coverage of Lowestoft Town's incredible cup journey to Wembley last year.