This Is Essex, the county's number one site for local news and information, has just won a prestigious national award.

At a packed ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London last night, This Is Essex scooped the title of 'Best Weekly Newspaper on the World Wide Web' at the 2000 Newspaper Awards.

Managing director Chris Richards and sales manager Vanessa Chakir collected the trophy, the BT Premier Award, from celebrity host Clive Anderson.

Those judging the award - including FT.com editor Paul Maidment, former Internet World editor Fiona Harvey, and other web design experts - were looking for 'a stable and enriching marriage of print and electronic media with mutual support systems, and which served the local community on a number of levels'.

The judges praised This Is Essex for its clear navigation, its creative links, and its enjoyment factor, describing the site as 'legible, navigable and fast.'

The awards, now in their fourth year, were open to newspaper websites across the country. This Is Essex was one of six sites shortlisted by the judges prior to last night's announcement.

Managing director of This Is Essex Chris Richards commented: "We are delighted that the efforts of This Is Essex have been recognised and much of the credit must go to the partners involved.

"Newsquest and Northcliffe have jointly put substantial efforts into making This Is Essex the success it has become.

"We have started the year in terrific style with audience figures double those of 1999, and we have a number of exciting developments to be launched shortly in conjunction with other major Essex partners."

The coming months will see a site redesign for This Is Essex to ensure it is keeping pace with its fast-changing electronic marketplace, continued growth into e-commerce, and a number of other initiatives.

About This Is Essex

This Is Essex was launched in October 1998 as joint venture between Newquest, publishers of the Eveing Gazette and Evening Echo, and Northcliffe, publishers of the Essex Chronicle

The site is supplied with local news and sport from a total of 22 daily and weekly Essex newspapers, and is updated at least twice a day

More than 200 local organisations already have close links with This Is Essex and the number of associated bodies is growing all the time

The site has more than 6,000 registered users and boasts more than 350,000 page impressions per month, making it the number one Essex news and information portal

Other elements of the site, which has more than 1,000 separate pages, include a national searchable business database, leisure news and cinema and entertainment listings, a free community website network, and a large recruitment advertising section

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.