A record number of awards are up for grabs at the highly coveted Scottish Press Awards 2021, which opened for nominations today (February 4, 2021).
Now in its 42nd year, the Scottish Press Awards recognise the vital work of national and regional journalism across Scotland and will once again highlight excellence in the sector, but its scope has been extended to lifestyle coverage.
And for the first time, the vibrant Scottish student journalism is being recognised with a new student journalist of the year category.
Nine new awards have been introduced for 2021, bringing the total number of categories up to 33. The new categories are:
- Specialist Reporter
- Student Journalist
- Food and Drink Writer
- Travel Writer
- Best Coverage of a Live Event
- News Website
- Daily Newspaper of the Year
- Sunday Newspaper of the Year
- Chairman’s Award
After a challenging and unpredictable year where the coronavirus pandemic has dominated news agendas across the country, this year’s Scottish Press Awards will reinforce why quality journalism remains a vital part of modern society.
Scottish Newspaper Society director John McLellan said: “By harnessing digital innovation, the high-quality journalism produced by Scottish news publishers is reaching more people than ever and throughout the tragic pandemic year the quality, independent reporting Scottish journalists produce every day has never mattered more.
“Like all our lives, this year’s Scottish Press Awards will inevitably be dominated by Covid-19, but despite all the difficulties we have reflected the confidence in what we do as an industry by expanding the awards to give more recognition to the diversity of both content and publishing categories which have helped guide readers through these times.
“We are particularly pleased to introduce the new student journalist category, which we hope will encourage the next generation in the Scottish tradition of great writers and reporters. We very much look forward to being able to gather to celebrate all that’s good about Scottish journalism and these expanded awards will once again show there is a lot to celebrate, support and defend.”
Last year, the Scottish Mail on Sunday scooped the prestigious Newspaper of the Year Award, alongside the Journalism Team of the Year accolade, for its investigation into the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Norman Silvester, news reporter and investigative journalist at the Sunday Mail, was awarded both the Reporter of the Year Award and the coveted Journalist at the Year Award for his shocking exposé of the death of prisoner Allan Marshall at Saughton Prison.
The 42nd Scottish Press Awards are sponsored by VisitScotland, Royal Bank of Scotland, Diageo, Johnnie Walker, Openreach, BIG Partnership, DoubleTree by Hilton Glasgow Central and Event Consultants Scotland.
The finalists will be announced at a ceremony at the DoubleTree by Hilton Glasgow Central, on Wednesday, September 29.