The News of the World and The Sunday Times have been nominated for Newspaper of the Year at the prestigious Press Awards, regarded as Britain’s journalistic Oscars.

The News of the World was said to set the agenda with exclusive after exclusive,” said the society’s executive director Bob Satchwell, while The Sunday Times was cited for "fine writing alongside dogged investigative and foreign reporting."

The Mail on Sunday, Daily Mail and The Guardian are also up for the award.

Mr Satchwell said: “These five papers were ahead of the rest in terms of votes based on the judges’ own knowledge and editors’ supporting statements describing their achievements across all platforms during 2010.”

The awards are judged by a 120-strong ‘academy’ of senior journalists that includes the editors and managing editors of the national titles for the Newspaper of the Year category. They choose the winner by a secret vote, with their verdict revealed at an awards gala dinner held at London’s Savoy Hotel on April 5.

Mr Satchwell added: “It is a difficult choice but whatever the final result and however subjective the voting, it will have been based on the judges’ passion for an industry that makes the best newspapers in the world.”

The society has taken over the awards on behalf of the industry at the invitation of the Newspaper Publishers Association. Proceeds from the award will help to fund the society’s work on media freedom and also support the Journalists’ Charity.