The success of an email service run by the Samaritans has been recognised.

The service, which provides online support to people in emotional distress, won a prize at the national eWell-Being Awards.

The awards recognise projects that use ICT to deliver social, economic and environmental benefits.

Funded by the Vodafone UK Foundation, the email service has seen a rapid increase in the number of emails it receives over recent years, from 80,000 in 2002 to over 145,000 in 2006.

Aside from these figures, judges said they were impressed by the Samaritans’ provision of help to other organisations in setting up their own email support services.

Dominic Rudd, chief executive with Samaritans, said: "We are proud to have won this award in recognition of our use of technology through our email service as a way to communicate.

"We have developed and established our email service as a highly effective way of providing emotional support to people who need Samaritans’ help.

In an online survey, the Samaritans found that 43 per cent of users of the email service said it had contributed to a decision not to commit suicide.

The majority of users are under 24 years old.