Julie Howden, sports photographer with Glasgow daily The Herald, has been shortlisted in the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards 2009.

The 31-year-old is up against eight other photographers from Europe, Asia, Canada and Australia in the sport category.

Her portfolio of images, which can be viewed here, includes shots from Glasgow Rangers FC games and the Swamp Soccer World Championships, held in Argyll. Julie has been with the Newsquest title for 18 months.

Freelance journalist and former Whitstable Times staffer Marnie Summerfield Smith has published her first book.

The 33-year-old has ghost written ‘Home from War’ – the true story of Martyn Compton who was left badly scarred from burns after a bomb attack in Afghanistan in 2006.

The book, which is available online from Random House Books, tells the story of how he comes to terms with his injuries and his battle back to get married last July.

The Norwich Evening News continues to champion the virtues of the local boozer in its Love Your Local.

The city’s Licensing Forum is the latest to back the Archant daily’s bid to encourage people into pubs, instead of buying cheap booze from supermarkets, and boost the area’s economy.

The Evening News says that in 1905 there were 363 pubs inside the city walls but that figure had dropped to around 140 at the end of last year.

More information about the campaign is available on the Evening News website.

And following on the theme, the Evening Post in Bristol has joined some of its Northcliffe sister titles in launching a Bites Back campaign.

The paper will be championing local trade and commerce and offering help and advice to entrepreneurs who are struggling in the recession.

Northcliffe dailies the Lincolnshire Echo and The Herald, Plymouth, are already running Bites Back campaign with others in the South West expected to jump on board in due course.

Former freelance and national newspaper journalist Rosalie Miles has died aged 74.

Rosalie spent many years working for Fleet Street newspapers and also spent two years in Paris as a foreign correspondent with the Daily Express.

She also wrote a monthly column called ‘A Scottish Accent’ for the WebWhispers website which supports sufferers of throat cancer, a disease she contracted several years ago.