It was a triumphant evening for Georgia Edkins at the 45th Scottish Press Awards, with the Mail on Sunday’s Scottish political editor lifting the coveted Journalist of the Year accolade.
Having earlier scooped Reporter of the Year, Political Journalist of the Year and Scoop of the Year at the gala dinner and presentation ceremony last night (May 29), the judges praised her “intuition, determination, and good old-fashioned door-knocking” while reporting on some of the last year’s most high-profile stories, including the Operation Branchform investigation into the SNP’s finances.
Georgia is pictured below receiving the Scoop of the Year Award from Newsbrands Scotland director John McLellan and Chair of Judges Richard Neville
The Scottish Daily Mail scooped the prestigious Newsbrand of the Year award for the second year in a row for consistently leading the way on most of the major stories of the year, breaking several of them, and delivering hard-hitting exclusives and impactful journalism. Editor Andy Harries is pictured below receiving the award, for the second year in a row.
The Inverness Courier was chosen as the Weekly Newsbrand of the Year, praised by the judges for being a modern and ambitious local newsbrand that invests its resources in the community and champions its readers, particularly with its campaign for the upgrade of the A9.
Marion Scott of The Sunday Post, Jane Barlow of Press Association (pictured below with Deputy First Minster Kate Forbes) and Chitra Ramaswamy from The Times Scotland celebrated retaining their titles for the second year in a row as the recipients of the Nicola Barry Award, News Photographer of the Year and Food and Drink Writer of the Year.
The Courier was recognised for its impactful investigative journalism, winning Campaign of the Year for the Eljamel Inquiry into the disgraced Tayside surgeon Sam Eljamel. Cheryl Peebles received the award for Specialist Reporter of the Year, reflecting the paper’s commitment to specialised and investigative reporting.
Other big winners were the team at The Scottish Sun, who showcased their strength in both live event coverage and multimedia journalism. They won Best Coverage of a Live Event for their reporting on the Sturgeon House Raid and took home the Podcast of the Year award for “Murder in the Granite City”. They were also awarded Journalism Team of the Year for their work on the SNP Police Investigation.
A total of 28 awards crediting the vital work of print and digital journalism were announced in celebration of the finest journalism in Scotland.
Lifetime Achievement was presented to the veteran Edinburgh Evening News political editor Ian Swanson by Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes (pictured above) and the Chairperson’s Award went to former Sunday Mail editors Jim Wilson and Brendan McGinty (below) for their work in exposing the botched police investigation into the murder of Emma Caldwell, which led to the conviction of serial rapist Iain Packer.
Chair of Judges, Richard Neville, former Head of News Brands at DC Thomson and current Director of Neville Robertson Communications, said: “This year’s awards highlight the exceptional caliber of journalism in Scotland. The winners have demonstrated remarkable dedication, skill, and integrity in their work, and their contributions are vital to our society.”
Richard Neville was joined by 40 independent judges from across the Scottish media, communications and public affairs industries. Former BBC Scotland newsreader Jackie Bird hosted the event at the DoubleTree by Hilton Glasgow Central.
The 45th Scottish Press Awards were sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland, Diageo, VisitScotland, Edrington, Openreach, Glenmorangie, The Law Society of Scotland, Caledonian MacBrayne, Registers of Scotland, Muckle Media, Women in Journalism Scotland, BIG Partnership, Weber Shandwick, Event Consultants Scotland and Newsbrands Scotland.
Newsbrands Scotland director John McLellan said: “We are very grateful for the support of all our sponsors, for the dedication of all our judges, and for the enthusiastic support of the awards from journalists across Scotland. And once again I’d like to thank our event coordinator Susan Mathieson, without whom the whole scheme would not be the success it is.”
The full list of winners and runners-up can be found here.
All pictures are copyright Andrew Barr Photography
