The Press and Journal’s Highland League Weekly has been crowned Digital Initiative of the Year at the Regional Press Awards.
Highland League Weekly scooped the prize at the London bash amid strong competition – including the WW1 Remembrance and Tracking the NHS in Scotland projects, which were produced by the DC Thomson data team for the P&J and sister-paper the Courier.
A joint-project from the P&J’s sports and audio-visual teams, Highland League Weekly (HLW) kicked off ahead of the 2021/22 season and provides our audience with comprehensive coverage of the much-loved and unique Breedon Scottish Highland Football League.
The Winner in the Digital Initiative of the Year category is Highland League Weekly / @pressjournal – congratulation’s #TheRegionalPressAwards pic.twitter.com/DwXGbuYQeo
— RegionalPressAwards (@RegPressAwards) March 8, 2023
With the Highland League touted by fans as the “best league in the world”, HLW shares this passion.
The main subscribers-only Monday night HLW show continues to grow and develop, and includes weekly highlights of multiple matches, reaction, analysis of all of the weekend’s results – and a mix of serious and not-so-serious features.
The team also produce regular “EXTRA” midweek highlights, as well as the free-to-view Friday preview show, which is available on all social media platforms, where HLW has a passionate and engaged follower-base.
P&J editor Craig Walker said: “Highland League Weekly is a real success story for The Press and Journal.
“It shows the type of content we can produce online and our ambitions in trying to meet the needs of the niche interests and passions of our audience.
👀👀👀👀👀👀 pic.twitter.com/t4c06g0BdZ
— Highland League Weekly (@HighlandLW) March 8, 2023
“A lot of work and a lot of miles go into producing our Highland League Weekly shows every week, with highlights filmed across the north of Scotland and long days pulling the content together.
“This award is much-deserved for the team involved – whether that be journalists Callum Law, Ryan Cryle, Paul Third, Danny Law, Jamie Durent and the other sportsdesk staff, or those involved from our AV team, led this season by cameraman/editor Callum Main, with no shortage of support from our photographer/videographers and others.
“Everyone who is part of Highland League Weekly has adapted and learned new skills to make what is a well-watched, well-received and now award-winning project successful to this point.”
DC Thomson journalist Dale Haslam – who works across the company’s newspapers, including The Press and Journal and The Courier – was highly-commended in the Daily Reporter of the Year category.
Conversation