Four charities have shared a £3,200 windfall from journalists and guests attending an annual press awards ceremony.

The organisers of the annual Highlands and Islands Press Ball and Media Awards have revealed the total amount raised by attendees at February’s event.

The cash will now be split between four good causes – Birchwood Highland, Friends of Autism Highland, the Elsie Normington Foundation Haven Centre Appeal and Dream, Believe, Achieve Highland.

This year was the 31st consecutive time the annual ball has been held since it was revived in the 1980s, and in 2018 the event reached the £100,000 milestone raised for good causes across the region it serves.

Highlands and Islands Press Ball chairman John Ross announces the charity donation with, from left to right: Kerry Maxwell (Friends of Autism Highland), Mairi Macdonald (Birchwood Highland), Lynda Fraser (Dream, Believe, Achieve Highland) and Rosie Jardine (Elsie Normington Foundation)

Some 240 media representatives, politicians and heads of public and private organisations attended the event, held at the Kingsmills Hotel, Inverness.

John Ross, the Highlands and Islands Press Ball chairman, said: “We are delighted that the generosity of our guests will help the wonderful work being done by these organisations and that the ball is able to support good causes in the region.”

This year’s event was organised for the eighth year by Inverness-based System2.