Reformer scoops three awards at ceremony
Team’s trio of prizes include Newspaper of the Year
The Reformer team was celebrating after picking up three gongs at the third 2016 Media Scotland Regional Awards.
The paper won the coveted Newspaper of the Year award while reporter Edel Kenealy was named Reporter of the Year.
Edel also won the Award for Scoop of the Year.
In April she revealed a Cambuslang man who sadly took his own life had twice visited a mental health facility on the day he died.
World champion boxer Ricky Burns was there to hand out the awards at the ceremony, which took place on Friday, December 9 at Media Scotland’s base at Central Quay.
During 2016, the Reformer has led the way for local news.
And Media Scotland publishing director Jonathan Russell said: “Many of our newspaper teams are performing brilliantly, both in print and digitally.
“But the Rutherglen Reformer is our newspaper of the year in recognition of its superb circulation performance and growth in online audience.
“They’ve broken a number of great stories this year while ensuring that readers still get a great service of community news and grass roots sport. The Reformer is everything a great local newspaper should be.”
Reformer editor, Douglas Dickie, said: “It’s a wonderful honour to pick up the award for Newspaper of the Year.
“It is a reflection of how hard our team work and, of course, the support we receive from our readers.
“We certainly could not have achieved this without them.”
On Edel’s two individual awards, Douglas added: “Edel richly deserves all the plaudits that have come her way.
“She has only been at the paper since January but I can’t overstate the tremendous impact she has made in that time.
“All the team are incredibly proud of what she has achieved.”
Edel herself said: “I was delighted to win the Reporter of the Year award.
“Everyone at the Reformer and the other Media Scotland titles works very hard every year to find and report on the stories that matter in their communities.
“I am very grateful that my efforts have been recognised in this way.”
Meanwhile, John Murdoch – who is regional editor of Media Scotland’s Lanarkshire and Lothian titles, including the Rutherglen Reformer – was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award after decades of dedicated service.