THE Journal's coverage of Lowestoft Town's appearance in the FA Vase final at Wembley has led to the newspaper winning a top award.

THE Journal's coverage of Lowestoft Town's appearance in the FA Vase final at Wembley has led to the newspaper winning a top award.

Although The Blues suffered a devasting 2-1 defeat more than 13,000 fans flocked to the spectacular stadium to cheer on their favourites in last year's nail biting climax to the competition.

And the disappointment of the defeat was summed up by the poignant image, taken by staff photographer Nick Butcher, of midfielder Bradly Hough being consoled by the club's phsiotherapist Ali Kent along with the single word Heartbreak which was used on the front page of the special supplement produced by The Journal which sold over 7,000 copies.

It led to the newspaper winning the Front Page of the Year in the EDF Energy East of England Media Awards, held in association with HoldtheFrontPage.co.uk and staged at Dunston Hall, on the outskirts of Norwich, yesterday.

The six-person panel of judges praised The Journal for its coverage of the final, the stunning images and how the front page perfectly summed up the feeling of the day for players and supporters back in May last year.

The Journal, along with its sister title The Great Yarmouth Mercury, narrowly missed out on being judged the Weekly Newspaper of the Year (paid for) but were both highly commended and shortlisted for the award which was won by the Essex Chronicle.

Mark Boggis, sports editor at The Journal, was delighted with the award and the success of the Vase coverage and praised the team work and planning of the supplement.

"It showed how with a bit of forward thinking and careful planning how a small team can produce an award winning product. From the reporting team and photographers at Wembley, plus the sub editing and marketing team in Norwich it was an outstanding success with thousands of papers being sold on the Monday after the final and throughout the weeek.

"Now with Lowestoft in the last 16 of this year's Vase we're hoping it's another trip to Wembley ... but this time bringing back the cup to Lowestoft, it's fantastic fans and the town."