Five local finalists named in this year’s media awards

SHETLAND is again very well represented on this year’s shortlist for the Highlands & Islands Media Awards.

Three local journalists, one photographer and a weekly newspaper are all named as finalists on a shortlist published on Monday (30 December).

Shetland News’ own Chris Cope is up against BBC Radio Shetland’s Daniel Bennett and Val Sweeney of Highland News and Media in the Feature Writer of the Year category, while the Shetland Times’ new recruit Ryan Nicolson has been named as one of the finalist in the Young Journalist of the Year section.

Owner of the ii Shetland magazine, Malcolm Younger, has been shortlisted for the Photographer of the Year award, and the Shetland Times newspaper is one of three finalists in the Newspaper of the Year category.

Chairman of the judging panel, Gordon Fyfe, said the media awards recognised the best in journalism across the region stretching from Shetland to Argyll and from Moray to the Outer Hebrides.

“Once again, we were delighted with the number and high standard of entries and choosing a shortlist has been an extremely difficult task,” he said.

Judges had the onerous task of assessing a record 116 entries in 12 categories covering newspaper, online and broadcast news stories and features, as well as the year’s top photographs.

The winners will be revealed during a ceremony in Inverness on 7 February 2020.