YOUR Argus was named Britain's fast-est-growing evening newspaper of the year at a national awards ceremony.

We scooped the three major awards for evening newspapers at the News-paper Society Newspaper Sales and Promotion Awards held in Birmingham.

The glitzy ceremony is seen as the newspaper sales Oscars for regional papers. The awards were in recognition of our remarkable sales success during the last three years, with 2002 marking us out as the evening newspaper in Britain with the greatest percentage sales increase.

And we have started 2003 in even better form, selling more copies every day than this time last year.

Our wins were for "base sale" increases, which means genuine full-price copies of the Argus.

Your Argus took the Bristol Evening Post and Press award for the best overall evening newspaper base sale increase, the Johnston Press plc award for best base sale increase for a newspaper with a circulation of less than 40,000, and the Northcliffe Newspapers Special Merit Award for daily newspapers that have achieved consistent growth over a three-year period.

Argus editor Gerry Keighley said: "There are lots of people to thank for helping us achieve these awards, primarily the readers who support us so loyally, of course.

"But the editorial and newspaper sales teams deserve particular credit. They work exceptionally hard to bring to the people of Gwent a paper that is relevant to them and champions the causes that matter. We should also pay major credit to the backroom people here who keep the machine running smoothly.

"These awards matter more than any others because they truly reflect whether or not the paper is hitting the spot. People in this part of the world want value for money and they wouldn't waste their hard earned cash if they felt the paper wasrubbish."

PICTURED: Andrew Kinsey, regional newspaper sales and promotions manager, (centre front) with some members of the Argus staff.