A journalist from Scotland on Sunday has won a national award for outstanding education reporting.

Arthur MacMillan, who is the paper's education reporter, scooped the prize for regional/local journalists at the CIPR Education Journalist of the Year Awards.

Judges singled out the former Strathclyde University student for his interview and analysis piece about Glasgow headteacher Rod O'Donnell, who reintroduced class selection by pupil ability.

His decision angered teaching unions and education experts who accused him of discriminating against slower learners, but his methods were vindicated when his school recorded a 19 per cent rise in Standard Grade General and Credit level passes.

The runner-up in the regional/local journalists category was Fiona MacLeod, who works for The Cumberland News and News & Star in Carlisle.

Fiona and Arthur are former classmates, and studied for their postgraduate diplomas in journalism at Strathclyde University at the same time.

Second runner-up was Kathie McInnes, education reporter for The Sentinel and Sentinel Sunday in Staffordshire.

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