The former editor of a local Scottish newspaper has won recognition for his achievements as a journalist over the course of a 35-year career.

John Ross Scott who became editor of the Hawick News, the same newspaper where he started out as a trainee reporter, received the chairman’s award for achievement at the annual Professional Publishers Association Scottish Magazine Awards held in Edinburgh.

John has been a journalist for 35 years and started out as a reporter at the News in 1977 before moving onto the Hawick Express, Kelso Chronicle and Jedburgh Gazette.

He later became chief reporter at the Southern Reporter and then editor at the Hawick News.

Said John, who now edits the magazine Living Orkney: “I am delighted that this award in some way gives recognition to the large number of small top quality magazines – in the shadow of the giants – which are produced across Scotland by dedicated small teams each month.”

John also served as a councillor for 23 years in Jedburgh then Hawick and was leader of Scottish Borders Council until he lost his election in Hawick in 2003.

He later left Hawick and moved to Orkney where he edited Orkney Today for four years before becoming chair of NHS Orkney. He started editing Living Orkney magazine in a freelance capacity in 2009.

The publication was shortlisted in Magazine of the Year in the awards and John was also nominated in the Editor of the Year category at the event which was attended by journalists from across the UK.