THE St Helens Star has been short-listed for free distribution newspaper of the year in 2014 O2 Media Awards North West

The title, which is delivered to more than 70,000 homes, is in the running for the prize alongside sister titles, the Wirral Globe and the Runcorn and Widnes World, and Southport-based Champion newspapers and the Midweek Visitor.

The winner will be revealed during an awards ceremony at the Imperial War Museum in Manchester on November 13, hosted by BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin.

Nicola Green, director of communications and reputation at O2 UK, said the judging panels were hugely impressed by this year’s submissions.

She said: “I know that in every single category the selection of the finalists was a bitterly contested and often heated affair.

“So many people came so close to being nominated but missed out by the narrowest of margins.

“The panels wanted me to pass on their thanks and commiserations to all those who didn’t make the final line-up but make these awards so popular.

“The presentation evening will be a celebration of all that is good about regional media, it’s just a pity that we can’t get everyone who took part in this year’s awards into the room.”

With more than 350 individual entries the O2 Awards are said to be the biggest regional press awards in the country.

After more than 100 hours of combined deliberation judges have produced a final shortlist from the hundreds of entries received across 20 media categories.

Judging was conducted over three separate days and the panels were made up of working editors and senior news executives from print, radio and television.