Newsquest’s Herald and Times Group has secured top honours at an awards scheme celebrating positive reporting on asylum seekers.

The Refugee Week Scotland 2010 Media Awards were organised by Oxfam Scotland, with the ceremony taking place on Friday in Glasgow.

And Billy Briggs from The Herald Magazine gained first prize in the national print category, while Stephen Naysmith, from the Sunday Herald came runner-up.

In the local print category, Caroline Wilson from the Evening Times scored first place, with David Clegg from The Courier coming as the runner-up.

Colin Mearns, from The Herald and Sunday Herald won the photography prize, while Maurice McDonald from Universal News and Sport came second, for pictures published in the Daily Record.

In the New Voices Student Journalism Award, the joint winners were Sabrina Ramzan, from the University of Strathclyde, and Martin Graham from Caledonian University – for his work published in the Sunday Herald.

Aideen McLaughlin from Oxfam Scotland, said: “The calibre of this year’s entries was unprecedented and I’d like to congratulate all of those who entered, not just those who won, on the quality and consideration of their work, which has no doubt made a difference to the lives of refugees and asylum seekers living in Scotland today.”

The awards were held as part of Refugee Week Scotland and supported by organisations including the Scottish Refugee Council, the National Union of Journalists and the British Red Cross.

Journalists were shortlisted for the awards earlier this month.