Glasgow-based daily The Herald took the top honours as the winners of the 31st Scottish Press Awards were unveiled last night.

The Newquest-owned title was named as Scotland’s Newspaper of the Year in the ceremony held at the city’s Radisson BLU Hotel.

Judges described the paper as “trustworthy, strong from front to back and a very important observer of the Scottish scene.”

Meanwhile the coveted Journalist of the Year Award went to Herald reporter Lucy Adams, who also won the Reporter of the Year title ahead of the Daily Record’s Lynn Davidson.

All the winners gather on stage for a group photo at the close of last night’s ceremony

There was a posthumous award for Columnist of the Year for Reg McKay of the Daily Record, whose ‘Cancer Diaries’ recorded his battle against the illness.

The Weekly Newspaper of the Year title went to the Dumfries & Galloway Standard, witht the Falkirk Herald a “close second” according to the judges.

Donald Martin, chair of the award organisers The Scottish Newspaper Society and The Herald’s outgoing editor said: “The Scottish media landscape continues to change by the day but it’s encouraging to see such a consistently high calibre of entries to these awards.

“We have some fantastic talent here in Scotland, and I am delighted they are being given the recognition they truly deserve.”

A lifetime achievement award went to political journalist Tom Brown for his “outstanding contribution to Scottish political journalism.”

Tom has enjoyed a 60-year career in journalism spanning guises as a political commentator, columnist, broadcaster and author and blogger.

The full list of award winners was as follows:

Newspaper of the Year: The Herald
Weekly Newspaper of the Year : Dumfries & Galloway Standard
Journalist of the Year: Lucy Adams, The Herald
Reporter of the Year: Lucy Adams, The Herald
Political Journalist of the Year: Jason Allardyce, The Sunday Times
Financial/Business Journalist of the Year Kenny Kemp, Sunday Herald
Front Page of the Year: ‘For My Daddy, The Hero’,’ Scottish Daily Mail
Scoop of the Year: ‘Honeymoon Scots Catch Swine Flu in Mexico,’ Donna Watson, Daily Record
Columnist of the Year: Reg McKay’s Cancer Diaries, Daily Record
Feature Writer of the Year: Iain MacWhirter, Sunday Herald
Sport Feature Writer of the Year: Tom English, Scotland on Sunday
Team of the Year: Aberdeen Evening Express for ‘North Sea Copter Tragedy’
Campaign of the Year: The Greenock Telegraph for ‘Stop Knives Save Lives’
Magazine Writer of the Year: Catherine Deveney, Scotland on Sunday
Arts and Entertainment Journalist of the Year: Phil Miller, The Herald
Cartoonist of the Year: Brian Adcock, Scotland on Sunday
Young Journalist of the Year: Victoria Raimes, Edinburgh Evening News
Multimedia Journalist of the Year: Nick Mitchell of The Scotsman/scotsman.com
News Photographer of the Year: Jane Barlow, The Scotsman
Sports Photographer of the Year: Tom Main, Freelance
Lifetime Achievement Award: Tom Brown