The Evening Times has had a double triumph in the Scottish Press Awards.
The
Glasgow paper was named Newspaper of the Year and won Campaign of the
Year for its year-long drive to save the Queen Mother’s maternity
hospital in the city.
The judges said of the Evening Times: “It
crusades for the community with purpose and pride and in doing so
punches above its weight.”
The hospital campaign, they added, was bold, aggressive, relentless – and successful.
“Like most good newspaper campaigns it was aimed directly at the community and had massive support from the readership.”
Editor
Charles McGhee said: “This award not only recognises our fight to save
the Queen Mum’s, but also the vital role the Evening Times plays at the
heart of the community in Glasgow and the west of Scotland.
“It
is also a tribute to the efforts of a fantastic team of talented and
dedicated journalists, operating in the most competitive newspaper
market outside of London.”
Chief reporter David Leask and health
reporter John McCann collected the Campaign of the Year award for their
role in saving the Queen Mum’s hospital.
The two reporters wrote more than 400 stories in support of the campaign.
And 156,000 readers signed the Evening Times’ petition calling for the hospital to remain open.
The Evening Times campaign persuaded the then health minister Malcolm Chisholm to overrule city health chiefs.
It secured an extra £100 million funding for a new hospital to be built in the city.
Journalist of the Year was Scotland on Sunday’s Catherine Deveney.
There was also a Lifetime Achievement Award for Magnus Linklater.
Scottish Press Awards 2005
THE WINNERS
Newspaper of the Year: Evening Times
Journalist of the Year: Catherine Deveney (Scotland on Sunday)
Reporter of the Year: Annie Brown (Daily Record)
Feature Writer: Michael Tierney (The Herald)
Sports News Writer: Keith Jackson (Daily Record)
Sports Feature Writer: Graham Spiers (The Herald)
Scoop of the Year: James Moncur (Daily Record)
Campaign: David Leask and John McCann (Evening Times)
News Photographer: Lloyd Smith (The Herald)
Sports Photographer: Tom Main (NoW, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph)
Front Page: Scottish Daily Mail
Cartoonist: Bill McArthur (The Herald)
Political Journalist: Lindsay McGarvie (Sunday Mail)
Weekly Newspaper Journalist: Robert Mitchell (Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser)
Gaelic Journalist: Murchadh MacLeoid (Scotland on Sunday)
Columnist: Ian Bell (Sunday Herald)
Young Journalist: Jacqueline McGhie (News of the World)
Lifetime Achievement: Magnus Linklater
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