The Argus has won three awards and been highly commended in two others at a Newspaper Society ceremony.

The paper secured awards for the best news bill, the best in-paper reader offer and the campaigning newspaper of the year.

The winners were announced at an event at the Hilton Hotel in Blackpool last night.

The Argus's winning news bill corresponded to a story about Cherie Blair's visit to Sussex when a child stuck a piece of moulding clay to her nose.

The poster read: Cherie Blair's Nose Job - Picture Exclusive.

The best in-paper reader offer or series of offers was secured for an offer of day trips and short breaks to France run with Hoverspeed during the fuel crisis.

Meanwhile, the paper's Saving Children's Lives campaign against drinking and driving won the title of Campaigning Newspaper of the Year.

The judges said it was a "sharply-focused, hard-hitting, efficiently-presented campaign".

The Argus was highly commended in the Best Promotion category for a promotion run with British Gas coinciding with the Tour de France last year called the Tour de Sussex.

It was also highly commended for its Horses and Horsepower motor show at Brighton Racecourse last June in the best event organised by a publisher category.

Phil Elcome, the Argus's retail sales manager, said: "I am very, very pleased we have won these three awards. They are a reward to all the staff for the hard work they have put in over the last year."

The Newspaper Society represents about 1,300 daily and weekly newspapers in the UK.