Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay’s entry was “head and shoulders above”, according to Regional Press Awards judges; “excellent, eye-catching topics and first rate writing”.

An investigative journalist for more than 30 years, Mackay’s long-form features for The Herald are regularly among the most widely read and shared articles on the website, and bring in large numbers of subscribers for the publication.

Mackay’s investigation into abuse at the prestigious Scottish private boarding school Loretto – which culminated in one former pupil stepping forward, dropping their anonymity, agreeing to pictures and telling their story on the record – was described as a “show-stopping exclusive, which was expertly and sensitively handled”. Mackay was the first journalist to break the story of pupil-on-pupil physical and sexual abuse at the elite school, with the revelations being described as a ‘MeToo’ moment for boarding schools. 

The “brilliantly entertaining sit-down” with the former top spy Meta Ramsay demonstrates Mackay’s incredible interviewing skills and his ability to scoop an exclusive, judges said, while the Scottish Greens have still not recovered from the revelations of political mayhem that Mackay published after months of cultivating sources.

“Mackay obviously works off-diary to get great lines from people,” said judges, and his work “gives us hope for the future of our profession”.