FORMER Newcastle United manager Chris Hughton was last night named Sports Personality of the Year at a prestigious regional awards ceremony held at the University of Sunderland.

He was one of eight North- East elite sports stars, including legendary Sunderland goalkeeper Jim Montgomery, to be honoured at the BBC’s North East and Cumbria Sports Awards, held in the university’s £12m CitySpace venue for the second year running.

The annual televised ceremony recognises contributions across all elements of sport from coaches to volunteers, to elite performers and teams.

Hughton was back on his old rival’s home turf to collect his award for the contribution he has made to football in the North-East, and for his success at Newcastle United.

He guided Newcastle back to the Premier League after winning the Championship, before he was sacked last month.

The significance of this year’s awards is that the North East and Cumbria is the only region in the country to run a formal ceremony under the main national event, highlighting the commitment of those involved to ensure it takes place.

Presented by BBC Look North’s Jeff Brown and BBC Tees Diane Youdale, this year’s event also doubled in size, utilising CitySpace’s hall and seating area to hold an audience of 400 guests, showing the confidence in the quality of the building to cope with such a prestigious event once again.

University Vice Chancellor Peter Fidler, who presented the Disabled Sports Person Award to Jade Jones, said: “The night was a huge success and we were delighted to host the BBC’s North East and Cumbria Sports Awards.

“These awards demonstrate the wealth of sporting talent we have here in the North-East as well as our passion for sport.

“I was honoured to present the Disabled Sports Award to Jade, she’s an incredible talent and has a great future ahead of her.”