HENLEY STANDARD WEBSITE HIGHLY COMMENDED

Article published in the Henley Standard

THE Henley Standard's website has been highly commended in the Regional Press Awards.

It was voted runner-up by judges of the mutlimedia publisher of the year category, beating off six entries from much larger daily papers, including the Manchester Evening News and the Belfast Evening Telegraph. The winner was the Hull Daily Mail.

Last month, the website was also shortlisted in the best use of new media section of the 2009 Newspaper Awards.

Jacqueline Alexander, the Standard's web strategist, attended the ceremony for the latest awards at the Marriot Hotel in London's Grosvenor Square last Friday.

She said: 'It is great to have the hard work of our team recognised by the industry. A nod of approval is always welcome and being shortlisted for two awards has been a real boost.

'We are intent on creating a site that both serves and entertains the community and we have some great developments in the pipeline. It's an exciting time for us and visitors to the site will reap all the benefits.'

Neil Ratcliffe, managing director of Higgs Group, publishers of the Standard, said: 'I am delighted that our website has been nominated for two such prestigious industry awards.

'The excellent team we have enable us to punch above our weight and show major regional and national newspapers that being a small independent publisher is not a barrier to providing quality products that can compete for awards against much bigger rivals.

'The Henley Standard is one of the country's best local weeklies, read by eight out of 10 local people every week, and our aim is for our website to have the same fantastic market reach.'

You can access the Standard's website at www.henleystandard.co.uk

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