The Herald columnist Ian Bell has been honoured at the Scottish Press Awards following his death last year.
Mr Bell, who died at the age of 59 in December after taking ill at his home in the Borders, posthumously won the Editors' Award for Outstanding Achievement at the event on Thursday night in Glasgow.
His son Sean received the accolade from Magnus Llewellin, editor in chief of The Herald & Times Group, publishers of The Herald, and solicitor Austin Lafferty.
Mr Llewellin described the journalist as a man who understood the ‘true power of words’ and said the industry had been robbed of ‘one of its few true stars.’ He added: “A reporter, polemicist, sub-editor, critic, multi-award-winning columnist, author and working class hero to many, he made you proud to be a journalist.”
He said that on the day he died, Mr Bell had contacted the office to make plans to attend the funeral of the novelist William McIlvanney.
He added: “He didn’t make it, and so, in the space of just a few days, Scotland lost two of its greatest writers and Scottish journalism was robbed of one of its few true stars.’ Mr Llewellin also reflected on Mr Bell’s acclaimed biographies of Robert Louis Stevenson and Bob Dylan, adding that he was a ‘master of his trade.’ He said: “While politics was his bread and butter, he could write on just about anything, plucking facts from the ether to craft word-perfect copy.”
He added: “His columns were lessons in themselves and while you didn’t have to agree with everything he wrote, you could only marvel at his erudition.”
The Herald’s Hugh MacDonald and Steven Camley both picked up awards at the Radisson Blu Hotel. Mr MacDonald was named sports feature writer of the year and Mr Camley the cartoonist of the year.
Freelance photographer Jeff Holmes won sports photographer of the year for his images, which have appeared in, among other titles, The Herald's sister title, the Glasgow Evening Times.
It was the 37th running of the event.
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