Time Lord’s companion is reaching for the stars

JUST one day after her 24th birthday, actress Karen Gillan, who rocketed to fame on role as the companion to Doctor Who, won the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland award in the screen category.

Soon to play supermodel Jean Shrimpton a major film, she is currently making her professional debut in the John Osborne play Inadmissible Evidence in London.

Fife-born artist David Mach, whose stunning Precious Light show at the City Art Centre featured 70 works of art in a unique spin on the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, won the award in the category for art.

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Paracyclist Neil Fachie, an Aberdonian physics graduate who has never let his disability hold him back, won for sport. Originally a track athlete, Neil has won four gold medals for Britain at two world championships. He joins a prestigious list of previous winner, from Andy Murray and Sir Alex Ferguson and to fellow cyclist Sir Chris Hoy.

Composer, pianist and vocalist David Paul Jones won for music. Best known for his soundtracks and live performances for Scottish theatre companies, the Edinburgh composer’s recent work includes What Remains with the Grid Iron theatre company for the Festival Fringe.

Falkirk-born novelist, playwright and performer Alan Bissett, whose novel Pack Men was described by Irvine Welsh as “a landmark in Scottish fiction”, won for writing. His play Turbo Folk was shortlisted for best new play at the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland 2010.

Scientist Alan Bowman, a former Roslin Institute researcher who, with his team at the University of Aberdeen, found a revolutionary method for controlling a pest that kills honey bees and seriously threatens food production worldwide, won the environment award.

The business award went to butcher Simon Howie, whose business has gone over 25 years from a single shop in a Perthshire village to supplying more than 200 hotels and restaurants and the UK’s four major supermarkets.

Norman MacDonald, proprietor of Café One in Inverness, won for food. Supplying his restaurant with the finest beef and lamb reared at his croft, he has welcomed famous names from golfer Lee Westwood to Prince Andrew to his restaurant.