GUARDIAN reporter Stephen Topping won the Young Journalist of the Year award at the North West O2 Media Awards last week.

More than 300 journalists and media professionals from the north west attended the event at the AJ Bell Stadium in Manchester last Thursday.

During the evening, hosted by BBC Breakfast’s Louise Minchin and Dave Massey from O2, Stephen, who is the Guardian’s Local Democracy Reporter, scooped the coveted young journalist award.

He beat off stiff competition from the Warrington Guardian’s Isobel Cotogni, as well as Emilia Bona and Catherine Murphy, who were all highly commended in the Young Journalist category.

Judges said Stephen showed how a journalist can make a difference and his determination to look deeper into local issues, such as the closure of Hartford’s Mid Cheshire College, was a credit to him.

Stephen said: “I’m absolutely honoured to have been named Young Journalist of the Year – I didn’t even think I would get on the shortlist so I can’t believe I have won it.

“I’m really pleased to have won it as a Local Democracy Reporter, it is a great scheme which has given me the chance to cover issues in more detail, something which the judges said they liked in my work.

“Well done to everyone who was nominated and the Northwich Guardian team who work so hard every week to bring the news to mid Cheshire.”

Stephen was presented the award by Debbie Dixon, who won a Northwich Mayor's Citizen Award last year for her fundraising efforts to screen young people for heart defects.

Elsewhere at the awards ceremony, the Northwich Guardian was highly commended in the Weekly Newspaper of the Year category, which was won by Westmorland Gazette.