Isle of Wight County Press recognised at 2023 Newspaper Awards

Our very own Lori Little and Lucy Morgan, who take over as the co-editors next week, made the trip from the Island to the Hilton London Bankside for the big occasion.

The County Press was in the running for local weekly newspaper of the year, up against competition from the Bridgnorth Journal, Cambridge Independent, New Milton Advertiser & Lymington Times, Newbury Weekly News and The Oxford Times.

Formerly the News Awards, the accolades focus on recognising excellence in printed newspapers.

The 2023 Newspaper Awards at the Hilton London Bankside. (Image: County Press)

The County Press was commended for being “a strong campaigning newspaper which really knows its Islanders, serving the community with a well-printed newspaper for almost 140 years”.

“It was an honour to represent the County Press at The Newspaper Awards, which this year focused entirely on the importance of print newspapers,” said Lori and Lucy.

“As the best-selling weekly local newspaper, we have the highest weekly print readership in the country, so we know how important the paper is to the Isle of Wight.

“If we had won, we would have dedicated the award to outgoing editor Alan Marriott who leaves the newsroom this week after an incredible 39 years with the paper and will be very much missed.”

It was a hotly contested category this year. (Image: County Press)

Outgoing editor Alan Marriott said: “While we are disappointed not to bring this award back for the Island, we were honoured to be nominated in what was a hotly contested category.

"The strength of the industry shows that despite reports to the contrary, there is still a place for great print products in a digital world."

The Isle of Wight County Press is the UK's biggest selling local weekly newspaper and it is published every Friday.

It runs alongside countypress.co.uk which welcomes over a million page views per month.