Evening News scoops 5 nominations for Scots journalism awards

The organisers of the Scottish Press Awards 2010 last night handed Edinburgh's favourite newspaper final slots in the following categories:

Scoop of the Year

Reporting Team of the Year

Front Page of the Year

Young Journalist of the Year

Cartoonist of the Year

That was the largest number of places on the final shortlist for any evening or regional newspaper in the country - and more than many national newspapers received.

Tom Little, editor of the News, said: "This is a tremendous result and a suitable reward for one of the most talented teams of journalists in Scotland. Every day they lead the way in reporting on events across the Lothians, and this is recognition of the great journalism on offer here in Edinburgh."

The News contenders are led by Victoria Raimes,who was handed a double honour. She is a finalist in the Young Journalist category and also takes her place on the shortlist for Scoop of the Year for her reporting on the tragic case of Isabella Purves.

Isabella's body was found lying in her city flat five years after her death, prompting much debate about how we care for our elderly people who live on their own.

There were plaudits for the wider reporting team too, for their coverage of the Edinburgh trams saga, led by Chris Marshall, our transport reporter.

Our revelation that MSPs had been given the all-clear to claim for poppy wreaths on their expenses also caught the judges' eyes, especially our 'Poppycock' headline.

Frank Boyle, meanwhile,was once again shortlisted for the cartoonist award, of which he is a previous winner.

Our sister papers also had success, with nine nominations for Scotland on Sunday and six for The Scotsman, three of them in the new Multi-Media Journalist of the Year category.

The finalists will now go into a final round of judging, with the winners to be announced at a ceremony on Thursday, 22 April at the Radisson BLU Hotel, Glasgow.