NUJ revives Regional Press awards

The National Union of Journalists has stepped in to resurrect the Regional Press awards. Last month Wilmington Group announced that it would not be holding the Regional Press awards this year. The former Press Gazette publisher had retained the rights to the trade magazine's events when it was sold last year to the New Statesman's owner, Mike Danson . Today the NUJ said it would be hosting the RPAs this year as part of its Stand Up for Journalism initiative. The NUJ Regional Press awards 2010 will be held on 29 June at Dingwalls, Camden, north London. The NUJ general secretary, Jeremy Dear, said: "At a time when newspaper groups bemoan the profitability of the industry and cuts in staffing and budgets threaten quality journalism, we are proud to celebrate inspiring local and regional newspaper journalism. "It would be unacceptable to see the great work of local and regional journalists – in print and online – go unrecognised. The NUJ Regional Press awards will be a celebration of tenacious, ethical, quality campaigning journalism and a recognition of the best in photography, design and writing." The awards categories are: Multimedia journalist of the year Reporter of the year Columnist of the year Feature writer of the year Sports journalist of the year Student journalist of the year Designer of the year Photographer of the year Sports photographer of the year Scoop of the year Campaign of the year Multimedia publisher of the year Newspaper of the year Specialist writer of the year The Felix Dearden reporting on race award • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".