Mandy Rhodes named Columnist of the Year

Holyrood magazine editor Mandy Rhodes has been named Columnist of the Year at the PPA UK magazine awards.

The magazine industry award, announced last night, comes six months after Holyrood magazine was named Magazine of the Year at the 2017 PPA Scotland awards, where Rhodes was also named Editor of the Year.

Announcing the award, the judges described the Holyrood managing director’s columns as “impossibly well-written and a real credit to the power of language”.

The PPA said: “With her visceral, engaging, and often genuinely moving writing style, she is a truly worthy winner of the PPA Columnist of the Year (Business and Media) Awards for 2018.”

Rhodes said: “I was absolutely delighted to have been shortlisted for this award and it truly was a complete surprise to have then won against such stiff competition. I feel honoured and humbled and obviously very, very pleased. I have always believed in the power of the pen and to win this award for my writing is personally overwhelming.”

Lord John Bird MBE, founder of the Big Issue, was admitted to the PPA Hall of Fame.