The SPA is delighted to finally reveal its 2016 suite of awards, to be presented at #SPANC16.

Judged by industry experts, these highly prestigious awards are the highlight of the student media calendar.

Student Publication Association Chair Jem Collins said: “This year we’ve seen our membership base expand rapidly, so we wanted to make sure our awards give an opportunity to everyone.

“We’ve also listened to member’s feedback to make sure we’re recognising as wide-a-pool of talent as possible, which is why we’ve made a few tweaks to the programme, which I’m sure our members will approve of.”

The new list sees the introduction of a ‘Best Newcomer’ Award, for publications under three years old, as well as ‘Best Specialist Publication’, in light of a growing number of journals and niche publications signing up.

‘Best Reporter’ will also be returning to the line up, having been dropped in 2015, and a new comment category has been added, too.

The awards will open for entries on February 1 2016.

The full list of awards are as follows:

• Best Publication
• Best Specialist Publication
• Best Newcomer Publication
• Best Website
• Best Design (Magazine)
• Best Design (Newspaper)
• Best Use of Digital Media
• Best Sports Coverage
• Best News Story
• Best Reporter
• Best Entertainment Piece
• Best Comment or Opinion
• Best Interview
• Best Feature
• Outstanding Commitment
• Best Student Photographer