AddThis SmartLayers

Shetland Times named best newspaper for second year

The Shetland Times has once again been voted Newspaper of the Year at the Highland and Islands Media Awards.

The weekly title was awarded the top prize by judges for the second year running, after a record number of entries were received for the competition.

Judges praised the paper for its excellent all round coverage of news and sport. In particular they liked its reporting of the successful campaign to persuade immigration officials to return local athlete, Sakchai Makao, to the island after he was arrested without warning on immigration charges.

Jonathan Lee, editor of The Shetland Times, will receive a cheque for £500 – to be donated to a charity of the newspaper’s choice – at the Highland and Islands Press Ball on February 2.

Shetland Times reporter Rosalind Griffiths also picked up an award, being named Local Newspaper Reporter of the Year.

The Northern Scot also recorded a double success, with Bryan McKellar winning the Young Journalist of the Year Award, and Eric Cormack winning Local Newspaper Photographer of the Year.

Reporter of the Year and first winner of the Jim Love Memorial Trophy was Moira Kerr of the Press and Journal.

The family of the former editor of the Inverness Courier donated the trophy after Jim died in the summer of last year.

Other winners include Lynne Kennedy from the West Highland Free Press who was named Feature Writer of the Year.

The Community Newspaper of the Year was Ileach, Islay. The paper will receive a cheque for £300, £100 of which will go to a local charity.

A further award for Journalist of the Year will be announced during a presentation ceremony at the Newton Hotel in Nairn on February 2, and the winner of the Barron Trophy, for lifetime achievement, is also due to be announced.

A full list of winners and runners-up is below: