NUMBER one on the net - that's Gazette Newspapers' website 'This is Basingstoke'.

The Gazette website has won the Best Website of the Year category in the Newsquest South-West Editorial and Newspaper Sales Awards.

Competing against websites from centres in Andover, Salisbury, Somerset and Cornwall, the Basingstoke site came out on top.

Praising the website for its performance over the last year - when the number of monthly page impressions has more than doubled from 20,000 to around 50,000 - judge Andrew Diprose was impressed by the "unusual and innovative" sections on www.thisisbasingstoke.co.uk

Commenting on the Newsquest South-West websites as a whole, Mr Diprose said they were "all a very high standard". He added: "Newsquest South-West should be proud of its websites."

The Best Website trophy was presented by Newsquest group editorial manager Margaret Strayton to Neil Shallcross (pictured), who is the internet developer at Gazette Newspapers.

The website award was one of five winner's trophies and four highly-commended accolades scooped by Gazette Newspapers' editorial and newspaper sales team at the awards held at Salisbury Racecourse.

Gazette Newspapers editor Mark Jones said: "The Best Website award is the icing on the cake for everyone involved in the successful development of This is Basingstoke over the last year."