Local newspapers have a vital role to play right at the heart of the communities they serve. The Telegraph & Argus prides itself on being an integral part of life in Bradford and district. This week is Local Newspaper Week - a special week set aside to celebrate the vital work of the local and regional press. The T&A has good reason to celebrate its part in the local newspaper industry - it was voted Britain's Community Newspaper of the Year at a glittering awards ceremony in March. During the next few days we will run a series of features to mark Local Newspaper week. Simon Ashberry opens the series with a look at what the T&A accomplished to make YOUR local newspaper the best community newspaper in the country.

IT'S ONE of the most frequent questions asked of journalists working on a regional paper like the Telegraph & Argus.

"Aren't you hoping to get into Fleet Street one day?" they pipe up.

Well, frankly, the answer is no for most of us. By and large, journalists work for papers like the T&A because they offer something the nationals can never match.

The T&A is part of the very heart of Bradford, echoing the hopes, fears and lives of its people. That is why we were named Britain's Community Newspaper of the Year in March. We try to make sure our pages are packed with news and information from across the district - so when you open the paper you find stories you want to read.

And we aim to give something back by supporting worthwhile local fundraising and recognising the efforts of the unsung heroes of our community. There is no better example of the T&A's community involvement than the year-long Bradford's Best campaign in 1999.

Bradford's Best was our way of marking the Millennium by reminding people across the district just how much Bradford has achieved. We highlighted stories of success. And the centrepiece was the T&A's Bradford's Best Awards.

Our year-long search culminated in a gala night at the Cedar Court Hotel in Bradford in December, during which 11 awards were presented to people who help to make a difference in Bradford and district.

Winners included 86-year-old Lori Michaelis, who fled the Nazis and is still working as a volunteer in Bradford, and rugby league stalwart Trevor Foster. Among the winning groups, who were each presented with £4,000 for their funds, were Bradford Soup Run, which helps homeless people, and the Chantelle Bleau Memorial Fund, set up to raise awareness of the perils of solvent abuse.

The awards were a major reason why the T&A successfuly fought off competition from newspapers throughout Britain and Northern Ireland to clinch the Newspaper Society accolade.

Judges said the awards were a "brilliant" example of a newspaper working right at the heart of its community.

And, in a personal letter to the T&A, Prime Minister Tony Blair also praised the campaign. "The awards captured the imagination of the city by celebrating all that was good about Bradford and the people who live here," he said.

Editor Perry Austin-Clarke said the paper had always known the Bradford's Best campaign amounted to something special. "It wasn't simply a marvellous achievement by the newspaper, it was a real opportunity for us to shout about the very many moving stories and fantastic voluntary efforts which go to make up our special local community."

Bradford Talking Magazines still has its trophy proudly on display at its headquarters at the Cathedral Centre and its £4,000 prize has already proved invaluable. The charity has improved its service by buying better tapes, copy equipment and colour-coded pouches used to send the cassettes out.

The T&A's other major achievement of last year was our successful fundraising campaign to buy a £1m MRI scanner for Bradford Royal Infirmary. The state-of-the-art machine means Bradford patients no longer have to trek to Leeds or Halifax for tests to diagnose a wide range of conditions. It first came into use in June and was officially switched on by Health Secretary Frank Dobson.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.