The launch of the new Local Newspaper Week website!

The Yorkshire Post campaign to combat loneliness in the region has won the Making a Dierence bid to find the best local newspaper campaign after nearly 12,000 votes were cast in a public vote earlier this week.

The Yorkshire Post Campaign to Combat Loneliness Wins Making a Dierence The Yorkshire Post campaign to combat loneliness in the region has won the Making a Dierence bid to find the best local newspaper campaign after nearly 12,000 votes were cast in a public vote earlier this week. Held over the first three days of Local Newspaper Week (12-18 May), the online vote saw members of the public vote in droves for their favourite out of a showcase of 30 powerful daily and weekly local newspaper campaigns. The Yorkshire Post’s “Loneliness: The Hidden Epidemic” campaign, which has received the backing of figures Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham, emerged as the Making a Dierence winner.

Announcing the outcome at the Society of Editors Regional Press Awards today (Friday 16 May), NS president Adrian Jeakings said: “ This year’s Local Newspaper Week, the Making a Dierence award and indeed many of the awards presented today have shown us how the campaigning journalism at the heart of our newspapers fundamentally changes people’s lives – whether it’s raising funds for a life-saving operation or cleaning up a local park, halting the closure of a much-loved museum or fighting for local jobs. “People often turn to their local paper when they have nowhere else to go. They trust their local paper to stand up for them, to give them a voice and to help change things for the better. No-one else could do what our newspapers do for our readers and their families. “And in today’s digital world, our campaigns are proving even more eective because we’re able to reach and mobilise the armies of readers who follow our newspapers online, on Twitter and on other social media platforms. Our 30 million a week print readers are bolstered by 79 million web users a month. We’re able to turn around campaigns faster than ever – often in days, rather than weeks or months.” The Yorkshire Post’s campaign urges all local authorities to write loneliness into their health strategies and to encourage more people to volunteer for projects after revealed loneliness to be a major problem among the elderly in the region.