The Hunts Post website has been voted Website of the Year in a prestigious awards ceremony held in Suffolk on Friday. While the newspaper itself was highly commended in the free newspaper of the year section, described as one of the most competitive categ

The Hunts Post website has been voted Website of the Year in a prestigious awards ceremony held in Suffolk on Friday.

While the newspaper itself was highly commended in the free newspaper of the year section, described as one of the most competitive categories, the website came out on top.

The Hunts Post newspaper was praised for its campaigns, its community involvement and writing.

Reporter Natalie Bowyer was also highly commended in the best newcomer category - judges described her work as having "a lot of heart".

The online edition of the newspaper beat off stiff competition in the EDF Energy Media Awards for the east of England to be voted best of the best.

Judges described The Hunts Post website as being "of an excellent standard which was a pleasure to browse with wonderful video clips from readers. It is a website which really draws the eye and makes it ideal for grazing".

Web editor for Archant Herts and Cambs, Sam Newby-Ricci said: "To emerge as a winner against such prestigious opposition was a real shock. We have been working hard to try and make www.herts24.co.uk and www.cambs24.co.uk deliver quality online news, sport and features and to have this recognised was a real boost.

"The team working on the sites are passionate about making them work for both our readers and our advertisers and we hope that in 2007, our online presence will go from strength to strength."

Herts24 and Cambs24 are the umbrella sites for 12 Archant websites created from the best of their local newspaper brands.