Tag: newspapers

Shortlist revealed for 45th Scottish Press Awards

Over 100 entries have been shortlisted for the 45th Scottish Press Awards, it has been announced. The awards recognise excellence in national, regional, and digital journalism from across the country.

With 26 categories featuring a mix of several long-standing award titles complemented by a range of new-look categories, the judges have received a flood of entries, representing the finest talent from across the industry.

The finalists will be hoping to scoop an award from a range of categories including politics, business, sport, and the arts.

This full list of categories for 2024 includes:

  • Arts and Entertainment Journalist of the Year
  • Best Coverage of a Live Event
  • Campaign of the Year
  • Columnist of the Year
  • Feature Writer of the Year
  • Financial/Business Journalist of the Year
  • Food and Drink Writer of the Year
  • Front Page of the Year
  • Journalism Team of the Year
  • Lifetime Achievement Award (not applicable for entry, chosen by the editors’ committee)
  • Scottish Newsbrand of the Year
  • News Photographer of the Year
  • Nicola Barry Award
  • Podcast of the Year
  • Political Journalist of the Year
  • Regional Journalist of the Year
  • Reporter of the Year
  • Specialist Reporter of the Year
  • Sports Columnist of the Year
  • Sports Feature Writer of the Year
  • Sports News Writer of the Year
  • Sports Photographer of the Year
  • Weekly Journalist of the Year
  • Weekly Newsbrand of the Year
  • Young Journalist of the Year
  • Journalist of the Year (not applicable for entry, chosen by the judges)

Shortlists for the sought-after Scottish Newsbrand of the Year, Journalist of the Year, and Lifetime Achievement Award have not been revealed as winners will be announced on the night of the ceremony. The shortlist for Weekly Newsbrand of the Year will be revealed in May.

This year’s judging panel was led by Richard Neville, former Head of News Brands at DC Thomson, and current Director of Neville Robertson Communications.

Richard Neville, chair of the Scottish Press Awards judges, said: “It has been fantastic to see the quality of entries to this year’s awards. The talent in this industry stretches right across the spectrum of digital and print publishing and across every region of the country.

“The need for incisive, challenging journalism grows every year and Scotland’s journalists have risen to the task in the past 12 months.

“Telling good stories will always be at the heart of what the industry does but holding the rich, powerful, and opportunistic chancers to account is of equal importance. It is clear from this year’s shortlist that Scotland is not a place to come to avoid scrutiny.”

The 45th Scottish Press Awards are sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland, Diageo, VisitScotland, Edrington, Openreach, Glenmorangie, The Law Society of Scotland, Caledonian MacBrayne, Registers of Scotland, Muckle Media, Amazon, Women in Journalism Scotland, BIG Partnership, Weber Shandwick, Event Consultants Scotland and Newsbrands Scotland.

Overseen by Newsbrands Scotland (formerly the Scottish Newspaper Society), the awards ceremony and dinner will take place at the DoubleTree by Hilton Glasgow Central on 29 May 2024.

For more information and to view the shortlist, visit:

Shortlist announced for 45th Scottish Press Awards

Hold the front page: Rebrand for Scottish Newspaper Society

The trade association for Scotland’s news publishers, the Scottish Newspaper Society, has been renamed Newsbrands Scotland, dropping “newspaper” from its title for the first time in a history stretching back 108 years.

While printed newspapers remain an important part of news publishers’ operations, the name change reflects modern newsrooms which reach far bigger audiences through digital platforms, with news operations working round the clock to deliver news to readers in the format they want, when they want it.

Newsbrands Scotland’s inaugural president, National World plc’s chief commercial officer Mark Hollinshead, said: “Our newsbrands reach more people than they ever did in the print-only days and the new name of our trade association reflects the multi-platform reality of the modern newsroom.”

Industry research [TGI, December 2022] shows that nine out of ten adults in Scotland engage with print or digital newsbrands at least once a week and are seven per cent more likely to rely on newspapers to stay informed than UK adults. And according to the latest JICREG analysis, 96 per cent of Scots read a local brand once a month.

Mark added: “Ever since the advent of the internet, Scottish news publishers have been evolving and innovating to keep their audiences well-served with up-to-the-minute, trusted information and analysis, and the audience figures speak for themselves.

“Scottish newsbrands keep communities across the country well-informed and connected, have a vital role to play in holding national and local politicians to account for the decisions they make, and are an essential means for services, businesses and charities to communicate with their users and customers.”

Further research from the news industry marketing body Newsworks reveals people are 2.4 times more likely to find news brands reliable than social media, and three-quarters believe it is important their news comes from a respected and recognised news provider.

Newsbrands Scotland director John McLellan said “Our titles continue to provide a depth and breadth of coverage that few, if any, networks can match, and the fact that all our members are independently regulated is also vital for maintaining public trust.

“Readers want to know they are being provided with professionally produced news, and our commercial partners benefit because readers recognise they are in a trusted environment.

“News publishers also continue to support and train the journalists of the future, and it’s important for our name to reflect an industry that is always looking forward.”

The rebranding project was a collaborative effort across member companies, with the branding design produced by DC Thomson and the marketing campaign devised by National World, with input from News UK and Newsquest Scotland.

“This was a very good example of publishers working together for the benefit of the whole sector in Scotland, whether society members or not,” added John McLellan.

Shortlist revealed for 44th Scottish Press Awards

The shortlist for the 44th Scottish Press Awards has been announced, recognising excellence in national, regional and digital journalism from across the country.

With 34 categories this year, the judges have received a flood of entries, representing the finest talent from across the industry, with 145 finalists will be hoping to scoop an award in a range of categories including politics, business, sport and the arts. 

The categories are:

  • Arts and Entertainment Journalist of the Year
  • Best Coverage of a Live Event
  • Campaign of the Year
  • Columnist of the Year
  • Feature Writer of the Year
  • Financial/Business Journalist of the Year
  • Food and Drink Writer of the Year
  • Front Page of the Year
  • Interviewer of the Year
  • Journalism Team of the Year
  • Local Campaign of the Year
  • Local Feature Writer of the Year
  • Local Reporter of the Year
  • News Photographer of the Year
  • News Website of the Year
  • Nicola Barry award
  • Podcast of the Year
  • Political Journalist of the Year
  • Regional Feature Writer of the Year
  • Regional Reporter of the Year
  • Reporter of the Year
  • Scoop of the Year
  • Specialist Reporter of the Year
  • Sports Columnist of the Year
  • Sports Feature Writer of the Year
  • Sports News Writer of the Year
  • Sports Photographer of the Year
  • Student of the Year
  • Young Journalist of the Year
  • Weekly Newspaper of the year
  • Daily Newspaper of the Year 
  • Sunday Newspaper of the Year
  • Journalist of the Year
  • Chairperson’s Award

Shortlists for the sought-after Daily Newspaper of the Year, Sunday Newspaper of the Year, Journalist of the Year and Chairperson’s Award have not been announced, as the winners will be announced on the night of the ceremony. The shortlist for the Weekly Newspaper of the Year will be revealed in May.

This year’s judging panel was led by Richard Neville, former Head of News Brands at DC Thomson and current Director of Neville Robertson Communications.

Richard Neville, chair of the Scottish Press Awards judges, said: “The pressure on journalists and news organisations continues to grow every year and, despite the incredible challenges the industry faces, the quality of entries to The Scottish Press Awards continues unabated.

“This year has been one of further diversification with digital content becoming the central feature of many newsrooms. At the heart of every entry, however, is simple good storytelling, digital or otherwise.

“While selecting the winners has been as difficult as ever, it has been clear throughout the process that Scotland is being well served because of the value our journalists and editors are placing on telling great stories, in every format.”

The 44th Scottish Press Awards are sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland, Diageo, VisitScotland, Edrington, Openreach, Glenmorangie, The Law Society of Scotland, Muckle Media, Women in Journalism Scotland, BIG Partnership, Registrars of Scotland. Event Consultants Scotland and Scottish Newspaper Society.

The awards ceremony and dinner will take place at the DoubleTree by Hilton Glasgow Central on Wednesday 7 June 2023.

For more information and to view the (not-so-short!) shortlist, visit: 

https://www.scotns.org.uk/2023/04/21/scottish-press-awards-shortlist-announced/

44th-Scottish-Press-Awards-Shortlist-2023-1mle0y5zxDownload

Tony Delahoy: Things Remembered

COLD WAR CHALLENGES – AND A LIFELONG AMBITION

At this time (1950) a petition had been launched to collect signatures against the proliferatation of nuclear weapons. We in the union branch at the New Cross tram depot decided to set up a Peace Committee to collect signatures for the Stockholm Peace Appeal.

The Cold War was intensely pursued by the Western powers. Charlie CHaplin was thron out of America and Paul Robeson too.

We had a big meeting in Camberwell to support Paul Robeson, to which he sent a recorded message, but we were up against the full wight of an anti-communist media.

I even stood as one of three candidates for the Communist Party local elections in Debtford, as their proposals seemed at the time to best address the needs of ordinary working people. But this was at the time of the Yangtse incident, where the Chinese communists were fired on by a British warship and the McCarthy era in the United States was in full swing.

The Vauxhall Tram authorities gave permission for a stall to be set up for just one day in the garage – and we were successful in collecting over 900 signatures for the Stockholm Peace Appeal, which I delivered to their offices near Regent’s Park.

I would collect the Daily Worker newspaper before my shift and do leafletting after my shifts, early morning or late. The shifts were spaced such that it was impossible to go home in between shifts. They were long days away from home.

Over the seven years I was active in the Transport and General Workers Union we were always under pressure and the canteen was a hive of activity with the early morning sales of all kinds of newspapers. We had to prove we were selling all papers inside the garage and not just the Daily Worker – this we did from outside the garage!

Then we were banned from selling the paper when we had tram uniforms on. The attempts at control were relentless.

There were of course already some big improvements such as improved provision if social services and the formation of the National Health Service in 1948; it is hard today to imagine not having an NHS and having to pay to see a doctor.

I knew that improvements to the lives of ordinary working people would have to be fought for by ordinary people like me and the hundreds of thousands of people who were now finding ways of making progress through sound argument and political pressure.

This was the challenge of winning a better future for everyone and pursuing this has been my lifelong ambition.

Progress is never guaranteed and things are sometimes disappointing, but I have seen poverty, war and destructive chaos and I know that only through ordinary working people struggling together will the devastating evils of poverty and war be avoided in the future.

Instagram, TikTok and YouTube are teenagers’ top three news sources

Teenagers in the UK are turning away from traditional news channels and are instead looking to Instagram, TikTok and YouTube to keep up to date, Ofcom has found.

Ofcom’s News Consumption in the UK 2021/22 report shows that, for the first time, Instagram is the most popular news source among teenagers – used by nearly three in ten in 2022 (29%). TikTok and YouTube follow closely behind, used by 28% of youngsters to follow news.

Top 10 news sources among 12-15 year olds

BBC One and BBC Two – historically the most popular news sources among teens – have been knocked off top spot down to fifth place. Around a quarter of teens (24%) use these channels for news in 2022, compared to nearly half (45%) just five years ago.1

BBC One remains the most used news source among all online adults, although it is one of several major TV news channels to reach fewer people in 2022.2 News viewing to BBC One, BBC Two, BBC News channel, ITV and Sky News is now below pre-pandemic levels, resuming a longer-term decline in traditional TV news viewing.

TikTok clocks up millions more news users

Conversely, TikTok has seen the largest increase in use of any news source between 2020 and 2022 – from 0.8 million UK adults in 2020 (1%), increasing to 3.9 million UK adults in 2022 (7%).3 This brings it onto a par with Sky News’ website and app.

TikTok’s growth is primarily driven by younger age groups, with half of its news users aged 16 to 24. Users of TikTok for news claim to get more of their news on the platform from ‘other people they follow’ (44%) than ‘news organisations’ (24%).4

Yih-Choung Teh, Ofcom’s Group Director for Strategy and Research, said: “Teenagers today are increasingly unlikely to pick up a newspaper or tune into TV News, instead preferring to keep up-to-date by scrolling through their social feeds.

“And while youngsters find news on social media to be less reliable, they rate these services more highly for serving up a range of opinions on the day’s topical stories.”

TV news remains trusted

TV news remains the most trusted news source among UK adults (71%), with news on social media considered the least reliable (35%). CNN (83%) and Sky News (75%) are highly trusted by their viewers for news, while the public service broadcasters are also trusted by the majority of their viewers – BBC (73%), ITV (70%), Channel 4 (66%) and Channel 5 (59%). Sixty-seven per cent of newcomer GB News’s viewers trust its news reporting.

Among teens, half of YouTube and Twitter users think they provide trustworthy news stories (51% and 52% respectively). Despite its popularity for news, fewer than a third of youngsters (30%) trust TikTok’s news content.

Decline in print news appears to accelerate

The combined use of print and online newspapers among adults is 38% in 2022, a significant decrease from 2020 (47%) and 2018 (51%).

This is being driven by the substantial decrease of print newspaper reach in recent years, with the trend seen pre-pandemic appearing to accelerate, likely exacerbated by the pandemic.

Less than a quarter (24%) of UK adults use print newspapers for news in 2022, compared with more than a third (35%) in 2020, and two in five (40%) in 2018. Use of newspapers among teenagers fell from 19% to 13% in the last five years.

News-Consumption-in-the-UK-2022-report-Download

It’s The Scottish Sun wot won big at Scottish Press Awards

The Scottish Sun swept the board at the 42nd annual Scottish Press Awards last night as the industry celebrated the very best of Scotland’s journalism.

The Glasgow-based titlescooped the prestigious Newspaper of the Year Award, Journalism Team of the Year and News Website of the Year accolades, for its coverage of the Coronavirus pandemic.

It was also a triumphant year for the publication’s Political Editor Chris Musson, who was named Journalist of the Year, Reporter of the Year, and Scottish Political Journalist of the Year.

He also secured Scoop of the Year with colleague Graham Mann for their shocking expose that saw Finance Secretary Derek Mackay quit in 2020 after revealing he sent hundreds of messages to a schoolboy, aged 16, 

Chair of judges Denise West, chief commercial officer at DC Thomson Media and ex-Trinity Mirror (North) managing director said: “Journalists dig up stories, but their titles have to know what to do with them, and with its usual panache, The Scottish Sun knew exactly what to do when the good were delivered.

“Our daily paper of the year has lost none of its style and vigour and resisted political pressure to deliver one of the most important stories of 2020 and to keep well ahead of the pack when it came to the big political scoops.”

Denise said the decision to give Chris Musson Journalist of the Year was one of the “easiest decisions” judges have had to make in the awards’ recent history.

She added “Chris was involved in scoop after scoop which made the political weather week after week and even cost a Scottish cabinet minister his job.”

Sunday Times Scotland became the first Sunday Newspaper of the Year as judges praised the publication for its “agenda-setting news stories” as well as hard-hitting commentary and analysis.

And the Lennox Herald was chosen as the Weekly Newspaper of the Year by a panel of Scottish daily newspaper editors.

A total of 33 awards crediting the vital work of print and digital journalism were announced, with The Daily Record scooping the Campaign of the Year title with its ‘Addicted: What Do We Do About Scotland’s Drugs Deaths” series.

The Press and Journal’s Julia Bryce won the first ever Food and Drink Writer of the Year award, Gabriella Bennett of The Times won the Travel Writer category and DC Thomson’s Lesley-Anne Kelly was named Specialist Reporter of the Year.

The Nicola Barry Award, which was introduced in 2018 in honour of the late award-winning columnist and feature writer, was awarded to The Sunday Post’s Laura Smith.

Alan Muir, the ex-editor of The Scottish Sun who recently left after 34 years at the newspaper. received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement award.

And The Orcadian received the inaugural Chairperson’s Award for how they’d served their local community and “stood up for its readers” during the pandemic.

Denise praised the newspaper, adding: “This one small title went out of its way to do its bit with tangible help for its community by giving up vital revenue to reduce advertising rates so small local companies could market their services cheaply and rebuild.”

This year’s judging panel comprised 37 independent judges compromising 21 women and 15 men drawn from across the Scottish media, communications, and public affairs industries.

The event at the DoubleTree by Hilton Glasgow Central was hosted by former BBC Scotland newsreader Jackie Bird.

The 42nd Scottish Press Awards are sponsored by VisitScotland, Royal Bank of Scotland, Diageo, Johnnie Walker Princes Street, Openreach, BIG Partnership, Women in Journalism Scotland, DoubleTree by Hilton Glasgow Central, Event Consultants Scotland and SGN.

Scottish Newspaper Society Director John McLellan said: ““There is no question that 2020 was the most difficult year news publishing has ever faced, keeping readers properly informed through the biggest crisis any of us have ever known at the same time as the revenues on which all titles depend all but collapsed.

“But as an industry we were more than up to the challenge, as all our entries and our growing audiences clearly demonstrate.

“It has been brilliant to have our first in-person awards since the pandemic began and it’s a clear statement of intent that the sector will recover and continue to serve our communities.”

More information about all Scottish Press Awards winners can be found at: 

https://www.scotns.org.uk/awards/

HRH Prince Philip: Front Pages

This morning’s front pages:

The House of Commons will next meet on Monday at 2.30pm, following the announcement of the death of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The Scottish Parliament will also reconvene on Monday.

The Scottish Parliament’s flags are flying at half-mast following the death of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.

Scottish Parliament Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh said: “On behalf of the Scottish Parliament I would like to extend our sincere condolences to Her Majesty The Queen and to the Royal Family following the death of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.

“The Duke of Edinburgh accompanied Her Majesty The Queen on each of her visits to the Scottish Parliament since 1999. Their unwavering support for this institution and The Duke’s unwavering support to Her Majesty were clear for all to see and his loss will be deeply felt.”

February NEN’s out now!

NEN Feb front pageThe February NEN is with our distributor now and will be delivered over the coming week.

If you just can’t wait to see a copy of your community newspaper, click on the link below for the electronic edition … hope you enjoy it!

NEN February15

NEN: it’s deadline day

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Just a reminder that today is deadline day for NEN’s autumn edition, so if you want to share your news with the North Edinburgh community in the October paper: HURRY!

Email us at northedinnews@gmail.com

In another development, NEN’s mobile phone was switched on at a moving private ceremony last night. The mobile phone has been silent for some time due to lack of funds, but the device is now active once again and awaits your calls!

The number? 07925 405 972.

NEN back on the streets next month

NENfrontpageNorth Edinburgh’s own community newspaper will be printed again next month. The North Edinburgh News (NEN) will be delivered to thousands of homes across Forth and Inverleith, with copies of the newspaper available in community venues across the area too.

NEN is leading the Contact in the Capital – North pilot project and we plan to print three editions before the first year of the initiative ends next March. The first of these will be published in October.

Deadline for all copy is Friday 26 September

Like to contribute? A community newspaper is by, for and about the community it serves – so be involved!

Stories and Articles

Doing something you’d like to share with the North Edinburgh community? Won something? Achieved something great? Starting something new? Let us know – we welcome contributions from individuals and organisations.

Advertising

Want to advertise your service or a forthcoming event? Use the NEN – a copy of our advertising rates can be found below.

 Ad Rate Card NEN

Community Directory

NEN’s Community Directory has  always been an important section of the paper, listing schools, groups and organisations’ names, addresses and telephone numbers. It’s probably about time we revised this to include website addresses, Facebook details and Twitter info too – it seems this social media thing is catching on …!

Send us your contact info and we’ll include your details it in our bright new Community Directory – and there’s NO CHARGE for this service!

How to get in touch:

If you have articles for inclusion, would like to place an ad or just want more information, email us at northedinnews@gmail.com

We look forward to hearing from you, but remember that copy deadline:

Friday 26 September!

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