The Essential Bits...

Launched in 2003 by Flora Selwyn, St Andrews in Focus magazine celebrated its 20th anniversary in November 2023. At a party to celebrate its anniversary, and Flora’s retirement at the age of 89, she handed over the magazine to its current owner and chief editor, Emily Jarvie.

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Under Flora’s guidance, each and every issue of St Andrews in Focus has featured the town’s people, favourite shops and eating places, with articles on its maritime tradition, its theatre and cinema, its internationally-recognised University and, of course, its world-famous Golf. Emily and her new editorial team have pledged that the magazine will continue to provide a unique insight into the immensely rich and varied life and times of the town.

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History of St Andrews in Focus Magazine

Started with the published wish to strengthen the sense of community, increase town/gown co-operation, and promote business through information and advertising, the magazine became an appreciated part of town life. Newcomers to the town in particular have been grateful to the magazine for helping them feel at home.

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Published six times a year by Flora, the magazine had well-written articles, illustrated with high quality photographs, drawings and occasional cartoons. St Andrews in Focus recorded how the town has evolved over the last 20+ years. It has welcomed new businesses, celebrated their successes, offered advertising to help them grow with the goal of making them known far and wide.

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Under Flora’s ownership, around seven thousand copies were distributed free within the town itself and amongst its many hotels. It also had subscribers in every part of Britain, from the Scottish Islands to the Scilly Isles, and all around the world. Before the pandemic it was available for free in the Media Walls at Glasgow and Edinburgh Airports, as well as at the new V&A in Dundee. Readership was estimated to be in excess of 25,000.

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In 2005, some eighteen months after its launch, St Andrews in Focus was delighted to be Highly Commended by the prestigious PPA (Professional Publishers Association, Scotland) in the category ‘Best Small Publishing Company’. In 2009 the Rotary Club of St Andrews awarded the editor its highest Award for Service to the Community.

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In November 2019, the PPA Scotland shortlisted the magazine for the Community Magazine of the Year awards, while on 25 January 2020, the prestigious St Andrews Burns Club presented the Editor with its highest Award for Citizenship.

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You can view the complete back catalogue of issues under Flora Selwyn's editorship on the dedicated St Andrews in Focus Archives (2003-2023) website: standrewsinfocus-archive.co.uk

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The Start of a New Era

As of issue 122 of St Andrews in Focus (published in January 2024), our current editorial team have been responsible for all operations relating to the magazine. For two subsequent issues, we followed closely in Flora's footsteps to create publications that aligned with the community's expectations of the magazine that they had come to adore under previous editorship. We were both delighted and humbled to be given the opportunity to continue to utilise St Andrews in Focus' existing design team and contacts in order to successfully present our stories on the page, print thousands of quality copies and distribute them to households, shops, hotels and other businesses in St Andrews - all without too much friction (despite how new we were to managing the publication)! Emily and her team are immensely grateful for the patience, insight and assistance so generously granted to us as we navigated these overwhelming early months.

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Summer 2024 marked another new milestone for St Andrews in Focus. With the unwavering assistance of Lisa Dyer, our very talented guest graphic designer and recent Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design graduate, we completely refreshed the look and feel of the publication. This rebrand has also extended to our newly launched social media accounts (Instagram and Facebook) and our brand new website, which gives readers the most up-to-date information on the publication and will be regularly updated to feature seasonal articles in a modern and accessible blog-style format. 

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There is certainly still much progress to be made, and we welcome any and all feedback from our loyal readers, contributors, advertisers and stockists on how we might improve the publication (both in physical and digital formats) in order to best ensure the future of In Focus.

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We are still an independent magazine, made possible by a tiny team of dedicated individuals who consistently volunteer their time and creative energy to In Focus. We are a non-profit, community-focused publication and we still share the very same philosophy that our founder, Flora Selwyn, was so motivated by when creating St Andrews in Focus more than twenty years ago. 

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We hope you will continue to enjoy and support In Focus as we gain momentum in this new chapter of our journey.

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- Emily Jarvie, Editor and Proprietor of In Focus