Winners of refugee media awards announced

Positive Reporting on asylum seeker s brings applause to newsmen

Billy Briggs from The Herald Magazine has bagged the first prize in the national print category in `the refugee media awards’ for celebrating positive reporting on asylum seekers. The second slot went to Stephen Naysmith from the Sunday Herald.

The Refugee Week Scotland 2010 Media Awards were organised by Oxfam Scotland. The ceremony took place in Glasgow. The awards were a part of Refugee Week Scotland and supported by organisations including the Scottish Refugee Council, the National Union of Journalists and the British Red Cross.

In the local print category, Caroline Wilson from the Evening Times topped the list, while David Clegg from The Courier came the runner-up.

The photography award went to Colin Mearns from The Herald and Sunday Herald. Maurice McDonald from Universal News and Sport came second for pictures published in the Daily Record.

Sabrina Ramzan from the University of Strathclyde and Martin Graham from Caledonian University shared the New Voices Student Journalism Award for work published in the Sunday Herald.

Aideen McLaughlin from Oxfam Scotland said the caliber of this year’s entries was unprecedented. He congratulated the entrants on the quality and consideration of their work which made a difference to the lives of refugees and asylum seekers living in Scotland.