PROFESSOR Richard Demarco, the veteran Edinburgh Festival impresario and has become only the seventh person to received the Edinburgh Award.

The artist and art entrepreneur who co-founded the Edinburgh-based Traverse Theatre, has received an engraved Loving Cup to mark the honour, which aims to recognise those who have made an outstanding contribution to the city.

His handprints - alongside those of previous recipients Ian Rankin, JK Rowling, George Kerr, Sir Chris Hoy, Professor Peter Higgs and Elizabeth Blackadder - are now on a flagstone in the City Chambers quadrangle.

Donald Wilson, Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, said: "I am delighted to present the 2013 Edinburgh Award to Richard Demarco, widely regarded as a champion for the Scottish arts.

"The Edinburgh Award enables the people of Edinburgh to pay a lasting tribute to someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the city, and Mr Demarco has done exactly that."