WE reckon your Daily Echo is the best newspaper in the country… but you needn’t just take our word for it.

For the Echo is the 2011 Regional Newspaper of the Year.

The accolade was announced at the glittering 2011 Newspaper Awards at London’s Park Lane Hilton on Tuesday night and received by the paper’s Editor-in-Chief, Neal Butterworth from comedian and broadcaster Dara O’Briain.

It comes just seven months after the Echo was named EDF Energy Newspaper of the Year for London and the South.

The 12-strong panel of judges from across the newspaper industry selected the Echo from daily titles across the UK and Ireland and said we presented “bold local news with campaigning news stories and a strong letters page and exemplified great regional newsgathering results in the face of reduced resources.”

It also featured “first class layout and design.”

The judges looked at papers from three consecutive days in November, with front page stories on soaring petrol prices, the demise of Palmair and a campaign for a terminally ill boy.

They added: “Producing good news content over three consecutive days is not an easy task and those that do should be highly applauded.

“There is much to be proud of in the regional daily press.”

Editor-in-chief Neal Butterworth said: “We have always believed we punch above our weight as a daily newspaper and this award goes some way to proving that.

“It is testimony to the skill and effort of all the Echo’s staff at Bournemouth, including those who have moved on from us in these challenging times.

“I have always been immensely proud of being editor of this newspaper and this award is a fitting tribute to all the people who have worked so hard to maintain our high standards.”