A former Advertiser reporter is up for another major award in recognition of her journalism that helped jail a killer.

Sam Poling is up for a British Journalism Award as "interviewer of the year" for her work on the murder of Emma Caldwell.

Earlier this year, Iain Packer was jailed for life for the 2005 killing. He had remained free for nearly two decades, as exposed first by the Sunday Mail and then Sam when she interviewed the killer for the BBC.

She confronted him with his lies - and her interviews were crucial to the case.

Packer was jailed for a minimum of 36 years after being convicted of 33 charges against 22 women, including Emma's murder and 11 rapes.

Sam's podcast, "Who Killed Emma?", which added new episodes after the trial, is one of the three pieces for which she is shortlisted in the British Journalism Awards.

READ MORE: Sam Poling on trial of Emma Caldwell killer Iain Packer

 

Sam is facing off against broadcasters such as Nick Ferrari from LBC, Piers Morgan, and the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg, as well as print reporters at the Sunday Times and Guardian.

Brought up in Helensburgh, Sam spent formative years as a reporter on the Advertiser before moving on to national and vital investigations.

She told the Advertiser earlier this year: "With local journalism, every word that you write means something to someone in that community.

"And you know that community, and if you get it wrong, you know you've got it wrong because they'll walk into that office and they will tell you.

"I think that was the biggest lesson I learned from working there: that local news matters, and you've got to get it right."

The "Who Killed Emma?" podcast can be found at BBC Sounds.