Your Noon Briefing: Shortlist announced for Scots marketing awards, STV AGM, etc

THE shortlist for a competition celebrating the best of the marketing industry in Scotland has been unveiled.

Winners of the Marketing Society Scotland Star Awards, now in their tenth year, will be announced on the 12th of next month.

Says the Marketing Society Scotland: “Over 250 entries were submitted across 33 awards under five core categories: strategic, development, communications, sector and champion.”

View the shortlist, here.

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A FREELANCE Scots journalist – specialising in personal finance – has had her debut novel published.

Tandem, by Alex Morgan, is set in a fictional seaside village in the East Neuk of Fife. Morgan writes for The Herald but includes in her extensive journalism CV sub-editing at the Daily Mail and restaurant reviewing for The List magazine. She combines her writing for The Herald with working, part-time, as an interpretation and communications manager at Wordsworth House and Garden, in Cumbria.

Tandem is published by Hookline Books, which takes recommendations from book groups around the UK, on the basis of the first three chapters, submitted for consideration.

Says a media release about Tandem: “It tells the story of Paula, who abandons her London life and runs away in the hope of escaping a painful loss – but finds herself involved in the tangled world of Sanders, a complicated 12 year-old who lives in the seaside village. It’s a quirky tale of love and friendship, which shows that life can never be simply black and white – with the attempted kidnapping of a celebrity penguin thrown in for good measure.”

Buy it, here.

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BEGINS a ‘quarter one’ interim management statement issued by broadcasters, STV, ahead of its plc annual general meeting earlier today: “Trading during Q1 is in line with the board’s expectations for the current financial year. The business has continued to perform well and has delivered a strong start to 2014 with satisfactory delivery of key financial and operational targets against the new KPIs announced for 2014 to 2016. Performance continues on track to fulfill the strategic aim of one third of earnings from non-broadcast services by end of 2015.”

Read the full statement, here.

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THE PR agency, Weber Shandwick, is seeking senior and account managers, in Aberdeen and Glasgow, as advertised here and repeated on twitter.com/allmediajobs.

And a trainee reporter is being sought to work on the Border Telegraph newspaper, and its sister title, the Peeblesshire News – as advertised here.

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THE publisher of the comic, The Beano, is reported a 25 per cent ‘sales lift’ following a free samples campaign in conjunction with The Mail on Sunday newspaper.

Says a media statement on the website of Dundee-based DC Thomson: “A free sampler was made available to The Mail on Sunday readers on 6th April 2014 and as a digital version to Mail Plus subscribers.

“DC Thomson head of circulation (magazines), Iain McKenzie, explains: ‘The Beano saw a 25 per cent sales uplift in its April 12th issue which succeeded the sampler. In addition to this, we have also seen a boost in subscriptions with around 1,400 additional subscribers signing up.'”

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