Scotsman columnists win Zero Tolerance Awards

Columnist Kirsty Strickland. Picture: John Devlin

Scotsman columnist Laura Waddell and Scotland on Sunday writer Kirsty Strickland have both claimed Zero Tolerance Awards.

Waddell has been recognised for her Scotsman column entitled ‘1,035 reasons why MeToo movement has not gone too far’ published in January.

The column explored why some commentators who attack the MeToo movement put themselves into the role of accused, rather than empathising with the victims of sexual assault and harassment.

Strickland was awarded for her column entitled ‘When a man strangles a woman it is a demonstration of control, not a loss of it’, which was published by the Scotsman last month.

The column probed the treatment of media coverage of the case of Claire Parry, who was strangled by Timothy Brehmer in a pub car park in May.

Brehmer was in October acquitted of Ms Parry’s murder, but was sentenced to ten-and-a-half years for manslaughter.

The public had been invited to nominate the articles, blogs, and other media content for the Write to End Violence Against Women Public Recognition Awards.

The organisers behind the awards said the nominations helped show appreciation to the writers and contributors who worked tirelessly to promote gender equality and change social attitudes around violence against women and girls.

"The content we received was of a very high quality and we appreciated every entry," a statement said.

Waddell is a previous winner in the awards, having also been recognised in the Gender Equality Award category last year.