The Comet (newspaper)

The Comet
Type Weekly
Format Tabloid[1]
Publisher Archant Herts & Cambs[2]
Editor John Francis[2]
Founded
  • May 1971 (1971-05)
  • (as the Stevenage Sun)[3]
Language English
Headquarters Stevenage, United Kingdom[2]
Circulation
  • 66,791 weekly
  • (98.4% free; 2014)[1]
Sister newspapers Royston Crow[4]
Website www.thecomet.net

The Comet is a weekly newspaper covering the English towns of Stevenage, Hitchin, Letchworth and Baldock, as well as the surrounding villages in north Hertfordshire and south-east Bedfordshire. Based in Stevenage and part of the Archant group,[2] the vast majority of its copies are delivered locally or picked up as a free newspaper, but it is also sold.[1] It is published each Thursday in three editions[4]—one concentrates on the Stevenage area, another focuses on Hitchin and a third pays particular attention to Letchworth and Baldock.[5] As of 2016, the paper's editor is John Francis.[2]

The paper was formed in May 1971, originally as the Stevenage Sun—the Comet name was adopted after less than a month.[3] The average circulation, counting all three editions together, was 66,791 in 2014—29,087 for the Stevenage edition, 17,953 for Hitchin, and 19,751 for the Letchworth and Baldock version.[1] Of those 98.4% were delivered or picked up free and 1.6% were paid for.[1] The three editions of The Comet are offered free of charge on the paper's website as "e-editions" on the same day as publication.[5]

The Comet was named the UK's "free newspaper of the year" at the Regional Press Awards in 2007.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Group Combined Total Circulation Certificate – July to December 2014" (PDF). Berkhamsted: Audit Bureau of Circulations. 25 February 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Comet, published by Archant Herts & Cambs". The Comet (Stevenage: Archant Herts & Cambs). 14 January 2016. p. 2.
  3. 1 2 "Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies Union List of Local Newspaper Holdings". Hertford: Hertfordshire County Council. December 2007. pp. 22–23, 52–53. Archived from the original (pdf) on 16 January 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  4. 1 2 "About Us". thecomet.net (Stevenage: Archant Herts & Cambs). Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  5. 1 2 "E-edition". thecomet.net (Stevenage: Archant Herts & Cambs). Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  6. ↑ Tryhorn, Chris (2 July 2007). "Belfast Telegraph named newspaper of the year". The Guardian (London: Guardian News and Media). Retrieved 16 January 2016. The Comet, Hertfordshire, was named free newspaper of the year.

External links

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