More success for `The Independent'

FURTHER SUCCESS for The Independent came in this week's British Press Awards. Deborah Ross was named Feature Writer of the Year and John Lichfield, our Paris correspondent, won the Foreign Reporter of the Year award.

The judges said of Deborah Ross: "She is a fresh voice who can make even the most banal subjects interesting." The judges praised John Lichfield for his "beautifully written insights into French life". Dave Brown, our leader page cartoonist, was commended for his "remarkable draughtsmanship".

The Independent was specially commended in the Newspaper of the Year category. The judges said that the paper had taken "impressive steps towards a remarkable revival".

This week's awards follow on from recent successes. In the What the Papers Say Awards, Simon Kelner, editor of The Independent, was named Editor of the Year, and David McKittrick, our Ireland correspondent, was named Correspondent of the Year, while Robert Fisk, our Middle East correspondent, was awarded the Edgar Wallace Trophy for outstanding reporting by the London Press Club.

More readers are now turning to The Independent. Circulation figures for February at 220,203 show the paper - alone among broadsheet newspapers - registering a year-on-year rise in sales.

Other winners at the British Press awards included: Newspaper of the Year, The Guardian; Reporter of the Year, Mazher Mahmood (News of the World); Sports Reporter of the Year, Michael Calvin (The Mail on Sunday); Columnist of the Year, Rebecca Tyrrel (The Sunday Telegraph)