Neil McIntosh Editor of The Scotsman

Dear Voornaam,

The sore heads have subsided, and now we're able to look back with some happiness at Wednesday night, and the Scottish Press Awards. The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday had a good evening.

These are the country’s most prestigious journalism awards: the gold standard, keenly contested, judged rigorously by our peers and industry experts.

And the two titles had, we already knew, appeared 18 times on shortlists - an amazing achievement for a single year, and which in itself gave us plenty to celebrate before the awards even began.

In the end we won in five of the categories: testament to a brilliant, busy year of journalism.

- Conor Matchett was named Political Journalist of the Year for his string of exclusives from Holyrood and beyond.

- Janet Christie was named Arts and Entertainment Journalist of the Year for her carefully prepared and beautifully delivered interviews and features.

- Aidan Smith was named Sports Feature Writer of the Year once more, with his moving interview with Sergei Baltacha, the Ukrainian former footballer, singled out for particular praise.

- Euan McColm won Columnist of the Year for his moving work in Scotland on Sunday through the year.

- The Scotsman was also honoured with Front Page of the Year for its front page, published the day after the death of The Queen last year (above), designed by Gavin Munro (pictured below with Richard Neville, chairperson of the judges).

Of course, the most important critics are you, our readers, and our focus every day is on providing you with the best possible insight into life in Scotland, the UK, and the world.

Our award-winners will be back on scotsman.com and in The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday print editions this weekend, including Euan on Sunday and Janet tomorrow with her conversation with round-the-world cyclist Jenny Graham. It'll be another inspirational read.

Thank you, as ever, for your support. We couldn't do it without you.

Best wishes,

Neil McIntosh

Editor, The Scotsman