THE Oxford Mail’s supplement marking 30 years since Oxford United’s Milk Cup triumph has been named one of the best in the country at a prestigious national awards ceremony tonight.

The 48-page production was one of seven finalists in the ‘special sports edition’ category at the British Sports Journalism Awards.

And judges tonight named the special edition in the top four sports supplements in the country.

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The Oxford Mail team at the awards ceremony 

The paper was up against The Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Racing Post and Boxing News at the awards night at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge hotel in London.

Boxing News took the top spot with their tribute to boxing legend Muhammad Ali. 

The Oxford Mail was the only regional paper shortlisted for a written award, outside of the regional category.

In producing the supplement, designed in the same style as the iconic Mexico ’86 Panini sticker album, we tracked down every member of the United squad, interviewed those who missed out through injury, chatted to some of the 30,000-plus fans who made the trip – and had an exclusive interview with Paul Evans, son of the Oxford manager on the day, Maurice Evans.

Sports editor Mark Edwards said: “These are huge awards in sports journalism and to go head-to-head with some illustrious rivals is very exciting.

“A lot of hard work went into the production of this supplement – nearly all of it in our own time – and just to be on the shortlist is a great achievement.”