Your Noon Briefing: Blog awards, Bill Rae, etc

AN awards competition celebrating the best blogs in the UK – produced by PR, marketing and communications folk – has issued a call for entries.

From the first of next month, entries are being accepted by the National UK Blog Awards, with a closing date set for October 31.

PR, marketing and communications is one category among several at the awards.

For more details, click here.

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A FORMER long-standing reporter on the Edinburgh Evening News, who then went on to help found a press agency, has died.

An obituary of Bill Rae appears in today’s Scotsman, here.

Rae also worked for the Edinburgh Council, as a press officer.

The obit is penned by Brian McGuire.

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THE winners of awards recognising the work of advertising departments within Scots newspapers will be decided by a four-person panel.

A deadline of Friday has been set for entries into what are four new categories in the Scottish Creative Awards.

Says The Drum media and marketing magazine – organisers of the Scottish Creative Awards: “Casting their expert eyes over the entries will be Carat Scotland CEO, Sue Holloway; Rob Nicol, managing partner at PHD UK; VisitScotland’s head of marketing, Helen Campbell; and Steven Walker, director of corporate development at STV.”

The new categories have been created in association with the Scottish Newspaper Society.

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WRITES former Scotsman editor, John McGurk: “It used to be accepted practice that the police would not identify those they arrested, never mind those who may be arrested at some time in the future.”

He is, of course, referring to the BBC coverage of a police raid last week on the home of the singer, Cliff Richard.

Read more, here, on Scot-Buzz.

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THE headline on The Guardian website (here) reads: ‘Scottish independence would have a devastating impact on the BBC’. And it is followed by the sub-heading: ‘A yes vote would leave the new public broadcaster on both sides of the border reeling from budget cuts’.

They each accompany an op ed by former director-general of the BBC, John Birt.

The paper’s Scotland correspondent, Severin Carrell, picks up on the comment piece as a news report – here.

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BEGINS The Herald today: “Concerns have been raised about one of the new exams sat by pupils this summer.

“Schools said some pupils who were expected to pass the Media Studies National 5 qualification had failed.”

Read more, here.

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