The annual Scottish Press Awards is open for entries and celebrating its 30th birthday.

Run by the Scottish Daily Newspaper Society, the prize celebrates the best of Scotland’s reporters and photographers and this year welcome a multimedia journalist of the year award.

Among the 2008 winners were the Falkirk Herald, crown weekly of the year, and the Press and Journal’s Ryan Crighton who scooped best young reporter.

The 22 award categories are open to journalists and photographers working for newspapers, magazines and news websites based in Scotland, plus Scottish based journalists and photographers writing exclusively on Scottish affairs for non-Scottish titles.

Donald Martin, new chair of the Scottish Daily Newspaper Society and editor-in-chief of Newsquest’s Glasgow titles, said: “This year has been momentous for Scottish news with major stories including the Vicki Hamilton murder trial, Scotland’s triumph in the Olympic Games and two major political by-elections.

“The standard of reporting across the media has been outstanding and it goes to show the real home grown talent we have in this country.

“The industry has seen many changes since the awards’ inaugural ceremony in 1979.

“The snowball effect of multimedia has revolutionised the way we report the news and the award categories have grown to reflect that.”

Entries must have been published during 2008 and the closing date for submissions is 21 January. Last year’s awards saw 370 entries and the awards ceremony will be held on 23 April in Glasgow.

The application form can be downloaded here but entries must be sent to: The Scottish Press Awards, c/o Event Consultants Scotland, 1a Abercromby Place, Edinburgh, EH3 6JX.

The full list of award categories is:

Newspaper of the year
Journalist of the year
Scoop of the year
Reporter of the year
Financial/business journalist of the year
Newspaper feature writer of the year
Magazine writer of the year
Columnist of the year
Campaign of the year
Front page of the year
Journalist team of the year
Weekly newspaper of the year
Political journalist of the year
Sports feature writer of the year
Sports news writer of the year
Arts/entertainment journalist of the year
Cartoonist of the year
Gaelic journalist of the year
Young journalist of the year
News photographer of the year
Sports photographer of the year
Multimedia Journalist of the Year