Sir Paul Grice wins Lifetime Achievement Award at the Holyrood Garden Party

Chief executive of the Scottish Parliament Sir Paul Grice has won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Holyrood Garden Party and Political Awards, in recognition of his contribution to Scottish politics over the last 20 years.

Grice was instrumental in establishing the Scottish Parliament and has served as its Clerk and Chief Executive since its inception.

Award winners were announced at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, with Humza Yousaf and Anas Sarwar being jointly named Political Hero of the Year for their work in fighting Islamophobia, and Jackson Carlaw named MSP of the Year for temporarily taking over as leader of the opposition during a tumultuous time in politics.

Tory MSP Jeremy Balfour picked up Speech of the Year for his contribution to a debate on 70 years of the NHS, while Green MSP John Finnie won Backbencher of the Year for his work on the so-called smacking ban.

Holyrood's managing director Mandy Rhodes said: “It has been great to see such a range of nominations for our political awards come in from across the spectrum, and there are so many worthy winners.

"These awards and our garden party represent everything that I want Holyrood magazine to be all about - celebrating the fun as well as the hard work that goes into politics.”

The awards, named ‘event of the year’ at last year’s magazine industry awards, were launched by Holyrood magazine in 2018 and this year also celebrated the 20th anniversary of both the Scottish Parliament and the launch of the fortnightly publication.

Grice has announced he will step down in September to become Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Queen Margaret University.

The winners:

Backbencher – John Finnie

One to watch – Liam Kerr

Staffer – Angela Dulley

Tweet – Joan McAlpine

Flushable motion – Michelle Ballantyne

Speech – Jeremy Balfour

MSP of the Year – Jackson Carlaw

Wag of the Year - Derek Mackay

Political hero – Humza Yousaf and Anas Sarwar (jointly for cross-party work on Islamophobia)

Lifetime achievement award – Sir Paul Grice