Motherland received the Jack Tinker Spirit of the Fringe award at the Assembly Music Hall in Edinburgh, to the delight of three South Tyneside women involved in the project.

It has already scooped a prestigious Fringe First Award for the best new writing on the Fringe, as decided by critics at The Scotsman newspaper.

Helen Embleton, from South Shields, has been nominated as best actress in the awards being run by industry paper The Stage.

She plays the part of Pat Long, 56, from South Shields, whose son, Corporal Paul Long, 24, was one of six Royal Military Policemen killed in an ambush by an armed mob in Iraq in June 2003.

Mrs Long said: "We were overjoyed when Motherland was announced as the winner. The play tells our story well, and the actresses played us perfectly.

"The audiences were quite small to begin with but there's been a lot of word of mouth about it, which has meant much bigger audiences towards the end of the run.

"This award recognises the hard work of everyone involved – we told our stories and they brought them to life on stage."

Creator and director Steve Gilroy, who was inspired to write the play by a Gazette story of the region's death toll in Iraq, said: "It was wonderful to see the women getting up on stage and what they said had such an impact on the rest of the ceremony.

"It brought that sense of reality to something that is largely about artistic endeavour. We're thrilled."

Elsie Manning, from South Shields –whose daughter Sharron Elliott, a staff sergeant in the Army's Intelligence Corps, was killed in a boat bomb blast in Iraq in November 2006 – was also interviewed.

She said: "It's absolutely fantastic. The play has given us a voice, everyone knows our stories and our children will not be forgotten.

"We don't feel alone any more and the girls did such a great job. We're very proud of them."