On 21 January 2004, hip Hoxton hang-out Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes was transformed into a shrine to the UK's best fanzines, ready for the inaugural EMAP Fanzine Awards. The exposed brick walls were alight with projected images of the nominations' covers; a chance to showcase the immense talent of the creators…

"I couldn't believe it when I saw the cover of my fanzine blown up on the wall. It was so exciting," says Zoe Roberts, whose fanzine Open was runner-up in the fashion category.

The intimate bar ensured a friendly, if competitive, atmosphere… "I met loads of interesting people and we swapped tips on how we produce our fanzines. There were lots of different publications laid out on the tables, so it was great to suss out the competition," explains Lucy Sweet, winner of Best Lifestyle Award for Chica. Anne-Marie Payne of ampnet.co.uk also used the night to swap production techniques on the comfy leather sofas: "Working on the web, I look at other webzines, but I never get the chance to actually meet the people behind it. The awards were a great opportunity to network creatively with fellow enthusiasts."

Nick Scott, who won Best Music Fanzine for Rebellious Jukebox, agrees: "Me and my mates were really cynical about the whole party. We expected to find a load of egos there, but we had a great night, met loads of interesting people and got really drunk thanks to the free bar!"

Lauren Laverne, presenter of XFM's drive-time show and former singer with indie band Kenickie, was on hand to present the actual prizes, but it was Editor-in-chief of EMAP and chairman of the judges, Barry McIlheney, who opened the night. He described the awards as "a key part of EMAP's ongoing search for, and celebration of, great new editorial talent - part of our endless quest to find people who are as mad about magazines as we are!"

Ampnet.co.uk's Ann-Marie approved… "I think it's great that EMAP are recognising people outside the mainstream. People are not being marginalised."

The awards were a culmination of months of searching out the most outstanding fanzines and judging the hundreds of entries which had swamped the EMAP offices.

There were five awards given out on the night, including Best Music Fanzine, Best Lifestyle Fanzine, Best Fashion Fanzine, Best Webzine and Fanzine of the Year. The list of categories has expanded this year to include Best Student Fanzine and Best Sport Fanzine as well.

The five lucky winners were each awarded £500 and some state-of-the-art design and leisure kit, courtesy of Apple, Adobe and Jigsaw. The runners-up received £250.

On the night, Best Fashion Fanzine and the Fanzine of the Year Award went to Ruth Jamieson's Vogue Bootcut, a satirical version of the iconic fashion magazine. The panel of judges said: "It has broken all the rules and expectations of what a fashion magazine should be. The winner has essentially thrown it all up in the air and created something funny, stylish, intelligent and completely fresh. A true innovator."

According to Ruth: "The EMAP Fanzine Awards were a great opportunity to get recognised within the media industry. I couldn't believe it when they announced me as the winner, I was absolutely thrilled." Consequently, Ruth was invited to work at EMAP and now writes for the respected music magazine Fact.

The runner-up of the fashion category was Zoe Roberts, who produced the brilliant Open as part of her final year project at the Surrey Institute of Fashion. "I was surprised to be nominated and even more shocked to win runner-up. One of the judges for my category was Jasper Goodall - I love his illustrations and I was thrilled that he praised my work, it was so exciting!" she says.

Rebellious Jukebox won the Best Music category, which was judged by Stuart Williams, publisher of Kerrang!, Mojo and Q, and Tom Fawcett and Paul Cox from record label Artrocker. They described Rebellious Jukebox as "stylish, cutting-edge, authoritive and engaging. One of the few that breaks-out of the staid, dense, earnest style of the stereotypical music fanzine." The runner-up was Robots And Electronic Brains. The judges decided: "The fanzine knows its corner of the music market, knows its readers and knows it's good."

Lucy Sweet won the Best Lifestyle category for Chica. The judges, Sarra Manning, former Associate Editor of EMAP Elan, and Matt Weiland, Deputy Editor of Granta magazine, described Chica as "a women's magazine with an acute twist. Clever, insightful writing, great delivery and razor-sharp wit."

Toby Tripp was runner-up in the lifestyle category. The judges said: "Of the short-list, the editor's … themed one-offs are as maddeningly impossible to categorise as they are brilliantly executed. Part art, part poetry, part entertainment and part something else altogether."

The nominated titles for the Webzine category included ampnet.co.uk, nicecupofteaandasitdown.com, spellingmistakescostlives.com and tagliners.org.

Tagline, a movie site, won runner-up on the premise that "It knows its stuff!", while nicecupofteaandasitdown.com won Best Webzine. The judges, Neil Stevenson of The Face and Denise Wilton, EMAP's Website Special Project Manager, said: "Interactive and informative madness. A totally absorbing read." The winner, Stuart Payne, was certainly pleased: "Brilliant news, I didn't even know I was a webzine! I think I'll celebrate with some Hob Nobs…"

Teresa Letchford, owner of Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes, described the night as: "A collaboration of outstanding talent and creativity … a huge success. The night was intelligent culture at its best."

This year's awards are set to be even bigger, with two more categories added and hopefully an even greater number of entries.

Click here to find out how to enter.