As reported by the National Union of Journalists: A letter on behalf of the chapel to the ceremony organiser said: "We were equally proud our work has again been recognised with a further nomination for 2016. However, since the latest nomination, the management of the Leicester Mercury has done considerable harm to our ability to produce a quality product and focus on the community by making two-thirds of our multi award-winning photographic team redundant.
"High-quality photographs are an essential component of the style and content of the Mercury and despite the excellence of the skeleton photographic team that will remain, it is inevitable that standards of the print product will decline as use of file pictures and amateur contributions increases.
"We believe our continued nomination would not reflect the awards’ commitment to the highest standards in print journalism. It would also send the wrong message to managers who have already eroded the design and integrity of the paper you praised last year through the increased use of generic features content produced elsewhere."
Chris Morley, NUJ Northern and Midlands organiser, said: "Our members are bitterly disappointed they have to take this step to highlight the damage being done to their award-winning title. They are standing up for quality journalism - it's a pity the company is prepared to take such risks with a title long associated with journalistic excellence.
"No one is fooled that squandering the pool of high grade staff news photographers at the Mercury will not be missed or noticed. The sudden departure of the editor and looming reorganisation in this newsroom are also worrying signs for this proud newspaper. Our members will not acquiesce to this dumbing down of a key skill and do not intend to facilitate it either.
"It is with the greatest reluctance that NUJ members at the Leicester Mercury have voted unanimously ask me to seek to withdraw from of the newspaper’s nomination for Newspaper of the Year 2016."
