Independent stars with newspaper of the year award

The Independent has won a newspaper of the year award.
The paper won Star News Group’s highest annual honour from a field of 25 mastheads operating under the company banner.
The Golden Albert Award, named after company founder Albert Thomas, recognises excellence in content and layout for both editorial and advertising along with a range of other performance measures.
The Independent also won best advertising feature for its 2009 Pako Festa lift-out, best news photo and best real estate page.
Almost all Independent staff members were on hand to accept the awards during Star News Group’s annual Christmas function in Melbourne on Saturday night.
Managing editor Tony Galpin said winning the awards during Star’s centenary year was an honour.
“The competition was particularly tough this year, given the exemplary performance of some of our Melbourne stablemates,” Mr Galpin said.
“The past 12 months have been an extraordinary period for the Independent. The wonderful work of all our staff has really paid dividends.
“In particular, I’d like to thank our loyal readers and advertisers for standing by their independent, family-owned newspaper.
“We look forward to providing them with an even better paper and service over the next year.”