STUDENT journalists at York University are today celebrating scooping three of the UK's top prizes for the quality of their student newspaper.

York Vision has taken the prestigious titles Student Newspaper of the Year and Student Website of the Year at the fiercely competitive Guardian Student Media Awards 2002.

In an extra boost, the paper's columnist Gareth Walker was crowned Student Columnist of the Year.

The students received their awards from comedian Dave Gorman and TV presenter Lauren Laverne at a ceremony in central London last night.

The judges said: "York Vision has a good mix of lively news judgement, well presented features and arts reviews. It has attempted to connect with the outside world and presented a local line on international issues."

Now in its 24th year, the awards recognise and reward the best

student journalists, editors and photographers with prizes that include cash, work experience at The Guardian, European flights from Easyjet and a six-week

work placement with Sky News.

The winners are decided by a judging panel that includes Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian; Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's Director of Communications and Strategy; Jon Snow, Channel 4 News and Piers Morgan, editor of the Mirror.

Updated: 11:43 Thursday, November 07, 2002