JOURNALISTS from The Northern Echo have been shortlisted for several honours at this year's North-East Press Awards.

Leading the finalists in the Tom Cordner Transco North-East Press Awards is Mike Amos, who has been shortlisted for four awards -columnist of the year, contribution to the community, feature writing and sports writer of the year.

The other finalists are Catherine Jewitt (scoop of the year), Lindsay Jennings (scoop of the year and feature writing), Sam Strangeways (initiative in journalism and hard news), Sarah Foster (feature writing), Gavin Engelbrecht (picture of the year) and Richard Doughty (picture of the year).

Andrea Johnson, a reporter on The Northern Echo's sister paper, the Darlington and Stockton Times, is shortlisted for weekly newspaper journalist of the year.

The awards, covering an area from Northumberland to North Yorkshire, attracted 240 entries from newspapers this year.

They will be presented by ITN journalist Nicholas Owen at Newcastle Civic Centre on Saturday, May 14.

The awards began as a tribute to Tom Cordner, of the Hartlepool Mail, who died aged 38 in 1976.

Awards secretary Keith Seacroft said: "We introduced the shortlists last year after discussions with the region's editors, and it was a very popular move.

"If you are on this list, you are already at least highly commended for the quality of your work. There is a fantastic amount of talent serving the region."