Budding young journalists from a Moray secondary school have won a national award for investigating environmental issues around their local community.
Pupils from Forres Academy teamed up to help promote recycling as part of a campaign orchestrated by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful.
They recently travelled to a prize-giving ceremony in Stirling, where they received a special commendation award in the Young Reporters Scotland field.
The group of six youngsters, aged between 15 and 17, were praised for their exceptional creative talents and investigative skills in penning articles about the risks endangering local wildlife.
Judges were impressed by entries entitled “Reduce, Reuse and Recylcle” and “Forres in Bloom”.
They also heaped praise on a piece about the Dava Way, a popular 24-mile countryside path between the town and Grantown-on-Spey.
Forres Academy teacher Jacky Davidson said: “Our group of pupils enjoyed themselves at the awards ceremony. They were all chuffed to bits with their certificates and the special commendation was an extra bonus.
“We particularly enjoyed the chance to network and have a chat with folk afterwards.”
The winning pupils were Charlotte Ogilvie-Richards, Helena Young, Ruby Caldwell-Hardie, Keavy Bell, Jason Cameron and Emily Brown.
The contest was open to young writers aged between 11 and 21 from across Scotland.
Keep Scotland Beautiful chief executive, Derek Robertson, said the competition yielded some “fantastic examples of investigative journalism”.
He added: “All of the entrants demonstrated their extensive range of knowledge and experience.
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their dedication and hard work.
“Keep Scotland Beautiful aims to make Scotland clean, green and more sustainable.
“As our future, young people are at the heart of making this happen.”