Winners of the 43rd Scottish Press Awards revealed

The winners of the 43rd Scottish Press Awards have been announced at a ceremony celebrating the country’s best journalism.

The Scottish Press Awards say that Heather Dewar won the coveted Journalist of the Year and Sports News Writer of the Year categories for a series of powerful investigations, including on the Cricket Scotland racism scandal, in the Scottish Daily Mail. She also secured runner up in the Sports Feature Writer of the Year, Interviewer of the Year and Nicola Barry award categories.

Chair of Judges, Denise West, previous managing director of Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd, and chief commercial officer of DC Thomson Media, said: “Heather Dewar was the unanimous choice for the judges who praised her sensitive, probing, and powerful writing. They were impressed too by her compelling reporting style and the engaging ‘integrity’ of her interviews. A truly worthy winner of this year's Journalist of the Year Award.”

The Press and Journal won the Newspaper of the Year Award for consistently delivering relevant, quality content whilst radically shaking up its newsroom, and The Sunday Post was unanimously chosen as the Sunday Newspaper of the Year prize for its hard-hitting exclusives and impactful journalism.

Denise commented: “In another year of pressure for independent news publishing, The Press and Journal was ambitious in tackling the challenges head on, radically shaking up the way its newsroom operated, and strengthening the relevance and quality of its editorial content.

“The Sunday Post has continued to evolve in both tone and content whilst remaining ever true to its original roots as a family newspaper. Every week the title delivers a formidable package of hard-hitting exclusives, campaigning vigour, engaging features and confident news coverage.”

Other big winners, according to the society, include Marion Scott at The Sunday Post, who was named Reporter of the Year and won the Nicola Barry Award, while Annie Brown at the Daily Record was awarded Scoop of the Year for her story about Health Secretary Humza Yousaf’s allegations against a Dundee nursery school.

The Ayrshire Post was named the Weekly Newspaper of the Year, the organisers added, chosen by a panel of Scottish daily newspaper editors, for its strong campaigning instinct and unique content.

A total of 33 awards crediting the vital work of print and digital journalism were announced, with The Sunday Mail scooping the Campaign of the Year title for its important series on Anne’s Law, Hannah Rodger was named Political Journalist of the Year for her work at The Herald, while The Wishaw Press won Front Page of the Year.

With a career spanning more than 40 years, Norman Silvester, a previous Reporter of the Year winner, received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Scottish Daily Mail won the final prize of the night – The Chairperson’s Award – to reflect the title’s continued strong journalism and performance on the newsstands.

Denise added: “This year’s recipient of the Chairperson’s Award, The Scottish Daily Mail, is a newspaper that continues to demonstrate its belief that strong journalism, whatever the platform, and a strong team of journalists to deliver it, pays off. Not only is it rewarded by packing the shortlists at the Scottish Press Awards every year, but at the news-stands where its performance sets an example every day."

Speaking of the judges, the society added, Denise was joined by 36 independent judges - which comprised 21 women and 15 men - 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.

Scottish Newspaper Society director John McLellan said: “Because of the unpredictability, 2021 was in many ways as difficult as 2020, but the speed with which journalists and publishers adapted to pandemic conditions ensured they were in good shape to meet the challenges. The measures we took in conjunction with government action ensured that titles emerged relatively intact and able to continue serving readers with trusted, reliable news and information.

“Although the commercial landscape remains challenging to say the least, it is encouraging to see so many high-quality entries and the enthusiasm on display at our annual celebration is testament to the sector's continued resilience."

More information about all Scottish Press Awards winners can be found here.