THE Northern Echo women's editor, Arifa Akbar, has scooped a national award.

Arifa won the features prize at the BT UK Regional Media Awards in London.

She outshone seven other writers who had made it through BT regional heats from across the UK.

Judges from national and regional press decided her writing "stood out from a talented field for its sensitivity and depth".

They said she displayed "humanity and honesty in her writing, which combined a lightness of touch with a captivating emotional depth."

They praised her exclusive feature pieces on a one-year correspondence with a death row killer, an insightful story of a real-life hermit and an interview with reality TV Big Brother's Northern narrator.

The stories were written in her time at the Journal in Newcastle, before she moved to The Northern Echo in February.