Your News & Star has been praised for quality journalism as two of our top writers celebrated awards success.

We were highly commended in the daily newspaper of the year category at the North West Media Awards.

Our accolade came with glowing praise from judges about the way our team responded, reported and reflected on Storm Desmond and its aftermath.

The praise was part of a hugely successful night for the News & Star and its CN Group stablemates.

They included one of the highest accolades of the night - weekly newspaper of the year - for The Cumberland News. Cumbria Life won magazine of the year.

Phil Coleman, chief reporter of the News & Star and The Cumberland News, took the prize for print news reporter of the year, while Carlisle United writer Jon Colman won the sports reporter accolade.

Both victories were in the face of stiff opposition from across the region.

Of Phil, the judges said: “Phil Coleman didn’t just tackle the obvious. His portfolio was full of hard to crack exclusives that demonstrated that this was a writer with a range of excellent skills.”

Jon faced stiff opposition from broadcast journalists in his category, but the panel’s eye was caught by the “breadth and variety of articles” in his portfolio.

The audience at Chester Racecourse was told: “This was a reporter who interviews well, writes beautifully and has that ability to accurately reflect what football, outside of the Premier League, is all about.”

Highly commending the News & Star, judges said the team’s response to the floods demonstrated an ability to react to ever-changing circumstances.

“They did an exceptional job producing excellent words, great pictures and bold attention-grabbing designs,” they added.

Roger Lytollis, meanwhile, was highly commended in the feature writer category, with his “brilliant” writing praised.

The Times & Star was highly commended in the weekly newspaper category, with the same recognition going to Carlisle Living in magazines.