Top of the Scots: Help celebrate the nation’s great achievers

Published on Friday 11 November 2011 12:26

FOR the 14th year The Scotsman Publications has joined forces with Glenfiddich, the world’s most awarded single malt Scotch whisky, to give you, our readers, the chance to vote in the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards.

This is the last chance to vote for this year’s category nominees and also for the Top Scot. Top Scot is the premier accolade in the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards and recognises individuals who have furthered Scotland’s reputation at home or abroad. Previous winners have included serial adventurer Mark Beaumont, internationally acclaimed authors JK Rowling and Ian Rankin and sporting achievers, including Chris Hoy and Walter Smith.

There is a raft of potential winners this year, including social entrepreneur Mel Young, Mark Muller Stuart, barrister, mediator and chair of the pro-bono Bar Human Rights Committee, writer Alexander McCall Smith, who is spearheading the creation of the Great Tapestry of Scotland, and Dr Gordon Rintoul, who has headed the transformation of the National Museum of Scotland. Top tennis player Andy Murray and golfer Catriona Matthew are also among the many potential candidates for Top Scot, as are many of the nominees in the other categories of this year’s awards.

The winners will be announced in a glittering ceremoney at the Mansfield Traquair, Edinburgh, on Tuesday, 29 November. You can vote online atwww.glenfiddich.com/spirit

CONTENDERS

MARTIN WISHART

CHEF/RESTAURATEUR

Wishart, from Shetland, opened Restaurant Martin Wishart in Leith in 1999 and won a Michelin star two years later. Now Wishart’s empire includes a cook school, a restaurant in Cameron House and a new brasserie.

NORMAN MACDONALD

RESTAURATEUR

MacDonald, proprietor of Café One in Inverness, offers customers the finest Highland produce. Famous customers include Lee Westwood and Prince Andrew, but his loyal locals are true testament to his food’s quality.

JACKIE KAY

WRITER

Kay was born in Edinburgh. She is a poet, novelist and writer of short stories and has enjoyed great acclaim for her work for both adults and children. Her novel Trumpet won the Guardian Fiction Prize.

JULIA DONALDSON

AUTHOR

Glasgow-based Donaldson has written over 100 books and plays for children, including the award-winning rhyming story, The Gruffalo. In June she became the Children’s Laureate for 2011-2013.

JIM WALKER CBE

CO-DIRECTOR, WALKERS SHORTBREAD

The grandson of Joseph Walker, who founded Walkers Shortbread in 1898, Walker is approaching his 50th year with the company, which now employs more than 1500 people.

SIMON HOWIE

BUTCHER/ENTREPRENEUR

Howie’s butcher’s business, which he started in 1986, now supplies more than 200 hotels and restaurants and four major supermarkets. During the past 25 years he has also grown a range of other businesses.

BILL DOBBIE

CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND CO-FOUNDER OF CUPID

Dobbie co-founded Cupid six years ago. Having captured a sizeable portion of the UK online dating market the company was floated on AIM in 2010 and has since become a global player.

KEITH NEILSON

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CRANEWARE

Neilson co-founded software company Craneware in 1999. Based in Edinburgh, the publicly traded company also has four US offices and employs more than 200 staff.

PRIMAL SCREAM

BAND

Primal Scream was formed in Glasgow in the early 1980S. Their 1991 album Screamadelica is widely recognised as the record that took the then underground Acid House scene into the mainstream.

DAVID PAUL JONES

COMPOSER, PIANIST, VOCALIST

Paul Jones is an Edinburgh-based composer, pianist and vocalist best known for his soundtracks and live performances for multi-award-winning Scottish theatre companies.

KENNY ANDERSON (KING CREOSOTE)

SINGER/SONGWRITER

Anderson has released more than 40 recordings in the UK, primarily through his own label Fence Records. Based in Crail, he is regarded as one of Scotland’s leading voices in alternative folk.

EMILE SANDÉ

RECORDING ARTIST/SONGWRITER

Sandé was raised in Alford, Aberdeenshire, and studied medicine at Glasgow University. In 2010 she was signed by Virgin, and released her first solo single Heaven in August. Her debut album will be out next year.

JAMES ROBB

SMOKEHOUSE OWNER

Robb owns the East Pier Smokehouse in the East Neuk of Fife. The Pier won Gold in the Great Taste Awards 2011 for smoked Scottish salmon and cold-smoked venison. Robb is working on the launch of a new café next year.

NEIL FACHIE

PARA-CYCLIST

Aberdonian Fachie, originally a track athlete, switched to cycling and started training with the GB Para-Cycling team in 2008. He has now competed at two World Championships, winning four gold medals.

LINDA CLEMENT

HOCKEY

Clement captained the Scottish women’s hockey team for an exceptional 100th time in June. She was born in Fortrose, and has represented Scotland more than 170 times and Great Britain on 18 occasions.

KATHERINE GRAINGER

ROWER

Grainger is Britain’s most successful female rower. She’s originally from Glasgow, and has won six World Championships – the latest in August this year at Bled, Slovenia, where she qualified for London 2012.

HANNAH MILEY

SWIMMER

Miley, a Garioch Amateur Swimming Club member, won gold for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October last year and took silver at the World Championships in Shanghai in July.

MARK COUSINS

FILMMAKER

An Edinburgh-based documentary film-maker, author and curator, Cousins’ feature The First Movie won the Prix Italia, and his latest project, The Story of Film: An Odyssey, was produced entirely in Scotland.

CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

PRODUCER

In 1986, he set up Young Films – an independent film and television production company based in Skye. Feature films produced by Young Films include Bill Forsyth’s Gregory’s Two Girls.

LYNNE RAMSAY

WRITER/DIRECTOR

Ramsay’s debut film Ratcatcher won critical acclaim and awards around the world. Her latest project, We Need To Talk About Kevin, which she wrote and directed, is tipped to be an Oscar winner.

KAREN GILLAN

ACTRESS

Gillan, born in Inverness in 1987, currently plays the much-coveted role of Amy Pond, companion to the 11th Doctor Who. Gillan also has the part of Jean Shrimpton in yet-to-be released film We’ll Take Manhattan.

DAVID MACH

ARTIST

Mach, who was born in Fife, is one of the Britain’s most respected artists. He is known for his dynamic and imaginative large-scale collages, sculptures and installations using diverse media.

MARTIN CREED

ARTIST

Former Turner Prize winner Creed was raised in Glasgow. He has exhibited around the globe and in 2009 wrote and choreographed Work No.1020, a live perfor- mance of his own music, ballet, words and film.

HEATHER ANDERSON & PETE RITCHIE

FOUNDERS OF WHITMUIR THE ORGANIC PLACE

In 2000 Anderson and Ritchie swapped city life to set up their food and farming business in Lamancha. It is now an award-winning enterprise, employing more than 20 people

JOHN BYRNE

ARTIST

Byrne grew up on the Ferguslie Park housing scheme in Paisley. He escaped work in a carpet factory to study at the Glasgow School of Art, and has since carved out a successful dual career as an artist and a writer.

JAMES HOLLOWAY

DIRECTOR OF THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

The gallery’s reopening this year will complete a project that began in 1994 when it was threatened with closure. Holloway, director for most of that time, has driven its renaissance.

JOE FRANKEL

ECO ENTREPRENEUR

Frankel founded Vegware in Edinburgh in 2006. The firm creates cups, plates and takeaway packaging from plants, not plastic. This year alone, it will reduce the catering sector’s carbon footprint by over 250 tonnes.

ALAN BOWMAN

SCIENTIST

Bowman, based at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Aberdeen since 1998, leads a team which recently found a non-pesticide method for controlling varroa mites, a pest that kills honeybees.

MARTIN MCADAM

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

McAdam is the CEO of renewable energy company Aquamarine Power, whose head office is in Edinburgh. It develops Oyster technology to produce electricity from wave energy.

TOM MORTON

ENVIRONMENTAL ARCHITECT

Fife-based Morton has built one of Scotland’s leading environmental design practices, Arc. Morton’s buildings set a new template for affordable and healthy eco-homes.

ALAN BISSETT

NOVELIST/PLAYWRIGHT

Falkirk-born Bissett’s novel, Pack Men, was described by Irvine Welsh as “a landmark in Scottish fiction”. His play Turbo Folk was also shortlisted for Best New Play at the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland 2010. acclaimed show, The Moira Monologues, which he wrote and performed, has been bought by the BBC to develop as a TV series.tumsandigna feugiam duis accumsan henibh eugiat

DENISE MINA

WRITER

Mina is the author of three graphic novels and nine prose novels, the last of which, The End of the Wasp Season, has been short-listed for the 2011 Gold Dagger Book of the Year prize b

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ssxtrdty

Friday, November 11, 2011 at 03:56 AM

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Peripatetic Pensioner

Friday, November 11, 2011 at 02:21 AM

Top Scot? couldn't see anyone in this list that appeared to have even a nodding aquaintence with altruism only self agrandisment. But I forget, it is no longer my generation and its standards that counts in modern times only the great god IAM.

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