An award-winning student newspaper has gone into liquidation.

The Journal, an Edinburgh-based publication which featured on a number of occasions at the Herald Student Press Awards, was said to have ceased trading amid mounting debt, and its website has also shut down.

A spokesman for the liquidator Grant Thornton confirmed the position of The Journal, an independent fortnightly newspaper produced by students at seven major higher and further education institutes in Edinburgh.

It was distributed at a number of locations across the city's universities and colleges as well as at bars and cafes an at one stage had a 10,000 print run.

The spokesman said: "Stuart Preston of Grant Thornton UK LLP was appointed Interim Liquidator of The Edinburgh Journal Ltd by interlocutor of the Sheriff of Lothian and Borders at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on July 23, 2015.

"A meeting of creditors was subsequently held on August 18, 2015 and Stuart Preston was appointed as liquidator of the company.

"The liquidator understands the business ceased to trade earlier this year and a winding up petition was lodged following non-payment of debts.

"The liquidator is investigating the affairs of the company in order to achieve the best possible outcome for creditors and other stakeholders."

The Journal and its staff earned a host of awards at the 2012 NUS Scotland Awards and the Scottish Student Journalism Awards in the same year.

The publication was originally produced as a Berliner, making it the first student newspaper in that format. Contributors included former First Minister Alex Salmond.