THE D&S Times has been awarded the title of North-East Weekly Newspaper of the Year - for the second year running.

The award was made on Saturday at the Tom Cordner North-East Press Awards 2001, held in Newcastle.

The judges said the D&S won because of its "all-round strength and value for money week after week".

They also praised the quality of its letters page, the Weekend Times section and the first interview with William Hague following his decision to step down from the leadership of the Conservative Party.

Journalists working for the D&S Times' sister paper, The Northern Echo, also picked up awards on Saturday.

Mike Amos was again named North-East columnist of the year; Mike Urwin, North-East photographer of the year and won the picture of the year category in memory of late Northern Echo photographer Ian Weir. Richard Davies won the award for designing the best front pages for the second year running; Lindsay Jennings was feature writer of the year; Arifa Akbar, women's writer of the year; Steve Pratt, arts writer of the year and John Dean, freelance of the year.

Mural vandalised

already

VANDALS have tried to ruin a volunteer art project in North-allerton before it is even completed.

Students from Northallerton College have spent two weekends working on a mural in the subway next to the county library. But this week the pictures were defaced.

The mural project is a joint venture between the town council, the college and North Yorkshire County Council's Connecting Youth Culture project. A county spokesman said: "We are naturally disappointed.