The Herald's Health Correspondent Helen McArdle has won this year's British Journalism award for Science and Health reporting with her scathing expose of the financial crisis at NHS Tayside.
Ms McArdle's long-running investigation revealed a series of failings at the top of the beleaguered health board, which was facing severe pressures over funding.
She divulged that the cash-strapped health body raided money donated by the public for patient comforts such as toys and other items to bankroll a back office computer system in 2014 after running out of money, and also raided its endowment fund to cover core spending - including buying new IT equipment.
READ MORE: NHS Tayside used charity cash pot after running out of money
The revelations led to the resignations of NHS Tayside Chairman Professor John Connell and Chief Executive Lesley McLay, while there were also calls for a no confidence vote against the then-health secretary Shona Robison at the Scottish Parliament.
Ms Robison later stepped down from the cabinet during a reshuffle in June, citing personal reasons for quitting her post.
The judges at the award, run by the Press Gazette, said that Ms McArdle's articles had followed the best traditions of investigative reporting.
READ MORE: NHS Tayside chief executive Lesley McLay sacked in wake of cash scandal.
They said: “This was good, old-fashioned investigative journalism which got results with the resignation of the chairman and chief executive of a charity.
"It was an issue of huge public interest which was clearly shocking for readers.”
The Financial Times was named News Provider of the Year at the British Journalism Awards as it took home four awards at the event in central London, the most of any newspaper.
The Guardian’s Amelia Gentleman took the prize for Journalist of the Year for her work exposing the Windrush scandal, which ultimately led to the resignation of then-Home Secretary Amber Rudd.
The judges said her reporting had been “astonishing” and “set the agenda for weeks”, adding: “The detail and the case studies were brilliant and everyone followed this story up.”
READ MORE: Shona Robison - Poor financial culture at NHS Tayside 'in a league of its own'
Carole Cadwalladr won the Technology Journalism and Investigation of the Year awards for her work on the Cambridge Analytica files. The latter prize was shared jointly with Channel 4 News.
This year there were more than 400 entries for the 22 categories of the British Journalism Awards, examined by 50 independent judges.
Helen McArdle gives her acceptance speech.
As well as taking the top prize, the FT also won the Innovation award for the Uber Game, while journalist Laura Hughes took the Political Journalism prize and Matthew Garrahan won for Arts and Entertainment .
The Times and Sunday Times were also big winners on the night, taking home a total of five awards between them.
Imprisoned Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo won two prizes: Foreign Affairs Journalism and Investigation of the Year (Global).
The pair are serving a seven-year prison sentence for allegedly breaching Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act.
Reuters has said there is “no evidence of wrongdoing” by either journalist and last month launched an appeal against their sentence.
The judges said: “We are all in debt to reporters who are willing to put their liberty on the line in order to tell the world things the world needs to know about.”
Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford said the British Journalism Awards had “sent out the strongest possible message of support” for the pair and wished Reuters success with their appeal.
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