YOUR Evening Star is shining brighter than ever!Suffolk's evening newspaper has been shortlisted for THREE prestigious awards, building on an amazing success story which is all down to our special role as part of the Suffolk community.

YOUR Evening Star is shining brighter than ever!

Suffolk's evening newspaper has been shortlisted for THREE prestigious awards, building on an amazing success story which is all down to our special role as part of the Suffolk community.

The Star has been shortlisted for Regional Newspaper of the Year in the national Newspaper Focus Awards.

We have also been put on the shortlist for Newspaper of the Year in the BT Regional Newspaper Awards South and East – the seventh consecutive year that the Star has been in the running for this honour.

And this year at the BT Awards there will be added recognition for our online edition, www.eveningstar.co.uk – which has been shortlisted for the title Website of the Year.

All this glowing praise comes a time when we are moving towards exciting new developments, with the imminent arrival of our new press, bringing more colour pages and an even better service for our community.

Here at the Star, we have always prided ourselves on fighting all the way for our readers and advertisers. They are the people who come first with us – and everybody else comes second!

The unique partnership between the Star and its readers has paid dividends for the community in Ipswich and Felixstowe and across Suffolk, with an astonishing £600,000 raised for good causes in the last six years.

Today we are delighted to announce that the appeal to help JJ, a pupil at Heathside School in Ipswich, has reached its £7,000 target in a matter of weeks – meaning the school will now be able to install a special hoist and get youngsters safely in the swim.

Thanks to your tireless support, we raised an amazing £100,000 for brave burns victim Terri Calvesbert.

And we will shortly be launching this year's Press Ball fundraising drive, aiming to raise £20,000 to help transform the lives of 20 children.

However, the impressive sums raised for vital causes are only part of the spirit which makes the Star so special.

Beyond the appeals, we have a deep commitment to our community, and it is our pledge never to let up in our campaigning determination.

We will continue our crusade to highlight the deadly dangers on the A140 road and will go on pressing the authorities to take action and save lives.

We will also continue to monitor the NHS in our area through our award-winning Ambulance Watch and Hospital Watch campaigns, reporting both the good and the bad.

Suffolk now has an ambulance service to be proud of – and that fact is in no small measure due to our Ambulance Watch campaign.

Crime, drink and drugs are causing great concern in our community, and we will continue to highlight these issues.

Our Name and Shame campaign over the festive season showed just how seriously we take the menace of drink-driving – and we make no apology for cracking down hard on drivers who flout the law.

Looking to the future, we pledge to carry on serving our readers and our community all the way.

The arrival of more colour printing heralds a bright new dawn for The Evening Star, its readers and advertisers. Many thanks to all those who have contributed to our success.