Heather Dewar

• Journalist for the Daily Mail and MailOnline, with a primary focus on hard-hitting sports news stories, women's sport, features and opinion pieces.
• I specialise in original journalism and during my time with the Mail, have secured numerous back-page pieces and exclusives. These include stories about athlete abuse, gambling, match-fixing, racism in cricket, concussion in sport and sexism in Scottish Rugby. My strength is in holding organisations and individuals to account when necessary and campaign-led journalism.
• I have written multiple features on athletes diagnosed with life-changing illnesses, such as cancer, MND and CTE. I thrive on finding unusual, inspiring, emotive tales, with humanity at the heart of everything I do.
• Silver award for News Reporter of the Year at the 2025 British Sports Journalism Awards in London.
• Scotland's Sports News Writer of the Year, 2024. Nominated in numerous categories.
• Nominated for Sports News Reporter of the Year at the British Sport Awards in March 2024, nominated in four different categories in the Scottish Press Awards in 2023, resulting in three runners-up awards. Won Journalist of the Year and Sports News Writer of the Year 2022. Also won the runner up awards for Interviewer of the Year, Sports Feature Writer of the Year, and the Nicola Barry award.

• Providing leadership, support and direction for the organisation.
• Conducting regular meetings to assess work on a monthly basis.
• Working with a committee of volunteers to drive funding, access to grants and garner support for the organisation
• Hosting events and committee meetings
• Writing regular blogs and acting as a spokesperson should the organisation need a voice of authority.
• Writing reports outlining project progress and results.
• Promoting healthy debate to drive business and strategy improvements.
• Enabling agile, constructive decision-making by uniting board members and aligning aims.
• Lead committee meetings and coverkey priorities to aid delivery of our organisation's values
• Focusing activity on strategic matters to facilitate progress and delivery.
• Identifiying market demands and consumer trends to increase customer base and retention rates.

• Creating a new strategy for the organisation
• Creating campaigns and working with fellow trustees on sport and business collaborations
• Helping to guide the future of the organisation
• Hosting the annual conference
• Co-hosting and reporting from the annual awards ceremony

• Worked closely with the Asian Games News Service as a senior reporter, covering a number of sports across Wanzhou. Was tasked with reporting from the Opening Ceremony and composing a piece on the culture, history and technological background of Wanzhou. During my time in China, I also covered fencing, In-line speedskating, dragon boat racing and break-dancing.
• As a senior member of the team, I worked closely with junior members of staff, technical directors, on-site staff and Asian Games management, providing leadership and direction at each venue.
• Applied excellent time-management skills to produce high-quality writing for multiple projects simultaneously.
• Conducted thorough research to fully understand and deliver on project brief.
• Maintained relationships with sources to facilitate ongoing access to information.
• Pitched and proposed story ideas to editorial teams for consideration and approval.
• Edited and proofread written content to maintain high editorial standards.
• Collaborated with editorial teams to meet tight deadlines and publishing schedules.
• Adapted writing style to suit different media formats,

• Involved working directly with UEFA on the Women's Champions League account. The role included concept creation, identifying digital trends, cultivating brand style and tone of voice across numerous channels, crafting content around Champions League ideas, working with talent, liaising with PR and design teams to create positive media aligned to the account.
• Content creation included work on podcasts, vlogs and sponsor-led video content for Pepsi.
• The position required in-depth knowledge of women's sport, creating a positive working environment for contributors, liaising with agents, clubs and players in terms of budget, roles and responsibilities, creating proposals for content creation, working to time and client specification.
• Also involved sourcing venues and working with contributors on content, writing PR material, website articles for UEFA and press releases.

Journalist, video presenter and host of BBC Scotland's first ever women's sport podcast on BBC Sounds.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Using contacts to secure world leading sportswomen on the show- including Baroness Sue Campbell, Dame Katherine Grainger, Judy Murray, Shelley Kerr, Chloe Morgan, Katie Archibald
• Finding news lines from each podcast guest and writing up stories for the BBC Sport website
• Earning just under ONE MILLION UK views on the BBC Sport website of stories created entirely from the podcast
• Creating exclusive video content for BBC social media channels
• Broadcasting the podcast on BBC Radio as well as on BBC Sounds
• Securing original and exclusive news lines that have had a wide reaching impact on the UK and international news agenda, both online and in print.

• Freelance media training for sports governing bodies and athletes. Involves creating a media plan tailored to each organisation or individual, media training days, filming and analysis of media success, and teaching social media awareness to young athletes on national pathways.

• LIVE reporting and producing from the swimming and sitting volleyball events at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
• Involved working closely with a camera operator on a daily basis for the duration of the event, broadcasting LIVE interviews with athletes in the mixed zone, to countries around the world.
• Required forming strong working relationships with international media, BVMS, media managers, Olympic teams and press officers - and producing, scheduling and logging from Olympic venues on a daily basis.

• Producing, scripting and creating content for the Olympic News Channel, and for broadcasters around the world,
• LIVE reporting from both the diving and the swimming events at Tokyo2020. This involved forming close relationships with international media teams, venue management teams, working with editors at the broadcast centre, scheduling and liaising with camera operators and identifying and working with Olympic teams within the Tokyo Aquatic Centre. Before the games, created several TV packages focusing on the venue, the Japanese swimming team and 8K productions, as well as creating athlete profiles for use around the globe.
• During the event, broadcasting LIVE from the mixed zone, interviewing numerous athletes by the pool on a daily basis, . The role involved a great deal of speed and endurance, as well as sensitivity to the athlete's demands. It also required logging, working with several teams at the IBC post interviews and working with translators to translate and transcribe for producers at base.

• Producing, writing, filming and editing content for UEFA fanzones around Europe.
• Involved reporting from Glasgow throughout the UEFA European Championship - filming and identifying stories from the fanzone and around the city, creating films from the venue, regular Vox pops and interviews with UEFA and officials running the event in Scotland, producing interesting, dynamic content for the big screens around Europe and liaising with the content team at UEFA and Swisscom in terms of editorial and storylines.

• Board member for the Scottish Football Supporters Association- a not for profit, member's organisation that provides a platform for Scottish football fans to have a say in the running of the game in Scotland. Involves attending regular board meetings, contributing to planning and creating campaigns for the organisation.

• Involves pitching ideas to clients, drafting proposals, creating story ideas, research and booking of contributors. Also involves on-site production of videos and editing. As a host, will conduct Q and A's for large businesses, script speeches, MC and host live events.

• Hosted the iSportConnect summit at Arsenal FC, the Females in Focus event for the Scottish Motor Trade Association, the Tik Tok LIVE TV programme for Scottish Rugby, MC'd the Scotland v England 6 Nations rugby match, the Squash World Doubles Championship, the Learn to Swim day for Scottish Swimming and filmed Ford's Mustang MachE for People's Ford.

• Hosting online and in-person lectures for broadcast production and sports journalism students at UWS. Involves creating lecture plans, hosting podcasting sessions, analysis of work and teaching the art of the podcast.

• Producing one of Scotland's most popular sports programmes on the radio.
• Involves booking guests, liaising with agents and talent, using editorial vision to decide on the programme's agenda, creating running orders and editing content for broadcast, knowledge of BBC editorial guidelines, and working closely with the Sportsound presenter.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Huge portfolio of original stories, published on the BBC Sport website.
• Excellent engagement figures on social media, creating exclusive content online and on digital. Copywriting and editing for online.
• Trained video journalist
• Original, multi-platform storytelling, including stories on suicide, anorexia, menstruation, sight loss. Includes TV, RADIO, SOCIAL MEDIA and Online.
• First ever Women's Sport Reporter at BBC Scotland, reporting on a huge variety of LIVE sporting events, including the Women's World Cup in France, the Netball World Cup, The Solheim Cup, the Women's Tour of Scotland, the Great Scottish Run, Women's Champions League Football and Scotland Euro qualifiers.
• Presenter of BBC Scotland's Scottish Women's Premier League Show streamed online on the BBC website
• Superb contacts list - including UK and international athletes, agents, key stakeholders of sporting bodies and journalists
• BBC Sportsound presenter , including presenting the main sports programme and contributing with LIVE updates from football games, both international and Champions League level
• 2014 Commonwealth Games reporter for TV and radio
• North of Scotland Sport Reporter, covering Aberdeen FC, Ross County FC and Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
• Wimbledon reporter for BBC radio Scotland
• LIVE TV reporting, packaging for BBC Scotland and Network TV, radio presenting of sports news and Sportsound programmes, writing for online, creating original content for social media and the BBC Sport Scotland website.
• North of Scotland Sport Reporter, covering Aberdeen FC, Ross County FC and Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
• Scriptwriting, editing, copywriting, use of editing software such as AVID and Premier Pro, VCS Highlander, Open Media
• First class presentation skills, presenting to large audiences both at events and on TV and radio
• Excellent ability to identify a story, work under pressure and to tight deadlines
• Hugely experienced journalist and communications expert, with an excellent reputation

HIGHLIGHTS

• Overseeing the digital marketing of the business, and all related activity.
• Managing all PR and Communications activity, both internal and external, enhancing the reputation of Strathallan School. Achieved this through online and digital channels, print media in the UK and internationally
• Internal and external marketing of the brand, including attending trade shows in Asia, liaising with advertising agencies, and key stakeholders
• Creating and writing a monthly newsletter on mailchimp
• Writing for the website, using wordpress and designing internal and external promotions on Canva and Photoshop
• Increasing digital content creation, implementing key digital strategies and a new business website
• Overseeing and analysing data to identify and define key audiences
• Delivering wide-ranging publicity for the school in BBC television and radio news coverage, local and national newspaper articles, industry magazine exclusives and Q and As. Scripted radio adverts promoting the School's Open Days, international online news articles, blogs, and digital campaigns. Regular copywriting activity and updates of the business website.
• Crisis communications
• Organising events
• Compiling press releases
• Working within a marketing budget
• Achieving excellent social media growth, implementing a new social media strategy and creating Instagram and Vimeo channels in addition to Facebook and twitter
• Filmed, edited and delivered in-house video content for use across all platforms, using a professional broadcast camera and Premiere Pro software
• Drafted publicity materials and liaised with agencies across numerous campaigns.
• Brand management and creation.
• Creating Google Adword campaigns
• Used analytics to assess the impact of social media reach, PPC campaigns, media coverage and digital engagements, providing recommendations for improvement.
• Provided support and specialist advice to staff, gave presentations to staff, prepared reports, training documentation, support materials.
• Created a Media Team for the pupils, teaching them media skills in audio, podcasting, video, newsgathering and photography

HIGHLIGHTS

• Created and co-founded the Edinburgh Mums app - a free to download app on android and IOS, that offers deals to mums across the Lothians.
• From concept to finished product, conducted all account management, sales, marketing, digital marketing, social media, press and communications activity for the brand, as well as business development.
• Created and delivered marketing campaigns
• Utilised trends in parent marketplaces to create solutions and refine business strategies
• Managed daily operations
• Achieved huge growth in client base within months of starting up
• Managed all social media channels, with significant growth and engagement
• Wrote regular blogs for the website, using wordpress
• Created a monthly newsletter using mailchimp
• Secured press coverage in the national media, as well as digital media sphere.
• Named in the top ten apps in Edinburgh
• Formed a regular partnership with the Edinburgh Fringe
• Created opportunities for competitions with other national and local businesses
• Copywriting
• Created social media campaigns in line with a yearly strategy. Involved paid for advertising in both Facebook and Twitter.
• Regular meetings with clients and key stakeholders to maintain relationships
• Directed ongoing market research that targeted key customer demographics and used information to proactively adjust future marketing plans.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Produced, researched and edited the Afternoon Show
• Produced, researched and broadcast sports news
• Co-presented programmes and provided co-commentary for football and speedway events
• Regular football, cricket, rugby, speedway correspondent
• LIVE reporting from large events such as Wimbledon, Royal Ascot, the Henley Royal Regatta, Reading FC, the Reading half-marathon.