49
Marjolein Robertson 
The Shetland stand-up followed her break-out 2023 Edinburgh Fringe hit Marj with O, the second show in her deeply personal storytelling trilogy, earning a further clutch of starry reviews. Robertson also signed up with the same agency that hosts Michael McIntyre and Kevin Bridges. (JR)

48
Tony Mills
Dance Base continues to be one of our favourite Fringe venues and this year’s programme did not disappoint. Artistic director Mills secured some brilliant choreographers and artists who wowed us with four and five-star triumphs from Australia, Ireland and Taiwan. (LR)

47
James MacMillan
Featured regularly in these pages not just for his music but for The Cumnock Tryst, the innovative festival he founded in 2014, MacMillan recently became a Fellow Of The Ivors Academy. This accolade was followed by the Tryst winning the Sky Arts Award For Classical Music. (CM)

46
Robert Softley Gale 
As artistic director of Birds Of Paradise Theatre Company, Softley Gale celebrated the company’s 30th anniversary year with a tour of Rob Drummond’s comic play, Don’t. Make. Tea. After more than a decade in post, Softly Gale has helped take the pioneering disabled artist-led company into the theatrical mainstream. (NC)

45
Andrés N Ordorica
Poet Ordorica released his debut novel, How We Named The Stars, to great acclaim. The book tells the story of two boys falling in love after meeting at college and earned Ordorica a place on the prestigious Observer’s Best Debut Novels list. (LR)

44
Aidan Thomson
Swinging open its doors on Edinburgh’s increasingly bustling Easter Road, Interval has become one of the capital’s trendiest and most aesthetically pleasing running retailers. With goals far beyond just selling shoes, founder Thomson has organised regular social events and track nights. (MM)

43
Robert Florence & Ryan Macleod
Florence and Macleod revitalised their long-running gaming show Consolevania under a new guise. CVXX, a podcast-style romp through media from yesteryear, gave them licence to chat about movies, music and telly (along with their usual idiosyncratic reviews of games), combining off-the-wall humour with incisive conversation. (KF)

42
Anna Hepburn
The creative force behind Glasgow’s Spot Design Market, Hepburn has established her Southside shop as a permanent and premium makers’ retailer, giving artisans from Scotland and beyond a place to display and present their creations to the right audience year-round and in quarterly market events. (MM)

41
Roland Wood
A favourite British baritone, Wood has wowed audiences with numerous operatic roles for Scottish Opera and was most recently seen in Edinburgh International Festival’s Oedipus Rex playing Creon, and as the iconic thinker for a new production of Jonathan Dove’s Marx In London! (CM)

40
Amy Matthews
With her third show, Commute With The Foxes, Matthews cemented a reputation for hugely insightful and exquisitely penned comedy. She’s also co-hosted Snookered on BBC Sounds, appears on Radio Scotland’s Breaking The News and this autumn embarked on a solo nationwide tour. (MB)

39
Rody Gorman
Heralded as ‘a masterpiece’ by poet John Glenday, Gorman’s Sweeney: An Intertonguing included poetry and translation in three Gaelic languages and English, as well as the poet’s self-created lingua gadelica. Another Gorman collection, Sa Chnoc, won the poetry award at Na Duaisean Litreachais (Gaelic Literature Awards) as well as the Wigtown Gaelic poetry prize. (MMT)

38
Larry Dean 
A fresh-faced veteran of the stand-up scene, Dean sold out his Edinburgh Fringe run with Dodger, a beautiful and hilarious tribute to his grandma. He also made his feature film debut in This Time Next Year, a title perhaps prescient about his own meteoric ascent in the world of comedy. (MR)

37
Hamish Hawk 
Edinburgh’s dandy music man was on a roll with third album A Firmer Hand. This audacious indie-pop study of masculinity was released to admiring notices, hit the top of the Scottish album charts, and became Hawk’s first UK Top 40 album. He’ll wrap up an exultant 2024 supporting Travis at the Hydro. (FS)

36
Jane MacSorley 
Veteran investigative journalist MacSorley continued her impeccably researched interrogations into justice and the human capacity for evil in two gripping BBC podcasts. Worse Than Murder revisited the heartbreaking story of Muriel McKay, while Inside Murder Trial: A Deadly Affair analysed a 46-year-old cold case. (LR)

35
Craig Grozier 
With a ferocious focus on seasonality, Grozier has been an in-demand presence as consultant and bespoke dining chef for over a decade. Now, with Fallachan Kitchen, anyone can savour his curated evenings of precision and provenance from a railway arch near the SWG3 complex. It’s a unique offering for Glasgow. (DK)

34
Fern Brady
Brady released her first Netflix special, Autistic Beauty Queen, and won the Nero Award for non-fiction with her memoir Strong Female Character. She also signed up for Channel 4’s Celebrity Bake Off, her efforts to engage with Prue Leith inspiring an uproarious routine in her confessional stand-up, I Gave You Milk To Drink. (JR)

33
Douglas Maxwell
Maxwell’s play So Young was a Fringe highlight: a tender, wry exploration of the impact of grief on a group of friends, bringing both tears and laughter, often in the same beat. A Play, A Pie And A Pint effort The Sheriff Of Kalamaki also netted him Best New Play at the CATS. (JL)

32
Forbes Masson & Alan Cumming 
Masson excelled in a one-man Jekyll & Hyde and began rehearsals to play Caliban opposite Sigourney Weaver in The Tempest, while Cumming made waves when he was announced as the next artistic director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre. Together they published a meander down memory lane as Victor & Barry, adding celebrity clout to 404 Ink’s excellent indie roster. (BD)

31
Flannery O’kafka
O’kafka’s exhibition For Willy Love And Booker T: Blue Babies Do Whatever They Want made full use of Sierra Metro gallery’s space during its Edinburgh Art Festival run. The show’s mix of photography, film and a cosily carpeted environment saw Glasgow-based O’kafka win a List Festival Award. (NC)

30
Alistair McAuley & Paul Simmons 
Together, McAuley and Simmons founded Timorous Beasties back in 1990, a design and print studio specialising in wallpapers and fabrics. They’ve recently opened a showroom in Edinburgh, which is home to all their bold and ornate designs, as well as some ceramics exclusive to the capital. (IS)

29
Christopher Hampson
Scottish Ballet’s artistic director continues to take the company in unexpected directions: in Cinders!, the central character is played by either a male or female dancer, the identity only revealed at curtain-up. Hampson’s ongoing support for emerging choreographers led to three short films and brand-new sections in The Nutcracker. (KA)

28
Aimee Ballinger 
Alternative Glasgow bookshop Burning House Books was founded by Ballinger in 2016 to promote texts with a focus on art, experimental writing, counterculture and Queer history. Ballinger engages her community of socially conscious readers with regular newsletters, in-store events and a personable social-media presence. (MM)

27
Elle Machray 
Edinburgh-based author Machray’s debut novel Remember, Remember was one of the year’s buzziest books. An alternative history about one woman’s quest to end transatlantic slavery, the novel has been universally praised for its boldness and was nominated at Scotland’s National Book Awards. (LR)

26
Armando Iannucci 
This master of satire is a producer on new HBO show The Franchise, a vigorous take-down of comic-book movies. Meanwhile, in theatreland he directed a production based on Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove which reunited him with Steve Coogan, and he gave us the Tory-pummeling Pandemonium. (EH)

25
Redolent
Facing off against established acts such as Arab Strap and Rachel Sermanni, these energetic rock upstarts nabbed the SAY Award for their debut Dinny Greet. It’s no wonder as this four-piece crafted an album to be proud of, striking a satisfying balance between buoyant indie and homespun electronica. (KF)

24
Amy Liptrot
Both film and stage adaptations of this Orcadian writer’s memoir The Outrun received glowing reviews. Nora Fingscheidt’s big-screen version starred Saoirse Ronan, premiered at Sundance and came to Edinburgh, with Liptrot taking breaks from writing her upcoming book about seaweed to walk those red carpets. (CS)

23
Ray Bradshaw
Alongside hosting Off The Ball and broadcasting from Germany during the Euros, amiable, bald, red-headed stand-up Bradshaw toured Doppelginger in which he sought to find his one, true scarlet likeness. He also recorded his three previous shows for soon-to-be-released specials. (JR)

22
Charlene Boyd 
June Carter Cash: The Woman, Her Music And Me marked a career-high for Boyd. Turning in a tender yet barnstorming performance (drawing on her experience of performing in a Carter Cash tribute act), her intelligent, complex script made for a gorgeous piece of theatre. (JL)

21
Lorn Macdonald
Fife-born actor Macdonald very much showed off his range with more Albion Finch in Bridgerton and starring in Tummy Monster as a creepy tattooist who wages psychological war with an inked celebrity. But he especially caught the eye with his bittersweet role as loveable rogue Lee in Ashley Storrie’s Dinosaur. (BD)

20
Danielle Jam 
A true rising star, the Aberdeen actor is getting used to leading roles and she excelled once again as a conflicted Chris Guthrie in Morna Young’s adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s Sunset Song. (MF)

19
Mairi Kidd
Author of Gaelic and English books, Kidd took up the role of director at the Saltire Society and published her chilling debut novel, The Specimens, examining the Burke and Hare story through the women involved. (LR)

18
Ade Adesina 
Aberdeen-based prize-winning artist Adesina has been making waves in the Scottish art scene for years, and his Edinburgh Art Festival exhibition Intersection marked a fresh direction as he explored his heritage and travels through a blend of new techniques and bold colours. (LR)

17
Abi Lewis 
Sett Studios, the artist-run Leith Walk gallery and studio space, produced a huge turnover of exhibitions and events over the last year as well as winning a Creative Edinburgh Award. Founded by a core group led by Lewis, there are currently 17 artists on board. (NC)

16 
Kimberley Tessa 
Scooping up the Scottish Jazz Awards’ Rising Star prize, this saxophonist, flautist and vocalist also performed at the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival. A key player on the Dundee scene, Tessa is also one third of The Vintage Girls trio and plays with fusion ensemble Milhouse Collective. (MM)

15
Roberta Hall-McCarron 
This year, Hall-McCarron opened Ardfern, quickly becoming a favourite wine bar/casual dining spot in Leith. Sister restaurants The Little Chartroom and Eleanore continue to go from strength to strength, and the award-winning chef has just released a beautiful first cookbook, The Changing Tides: Seasonal Recipes. (AS)

14
Carla J Easton & Blair Young 
First-time feature filmmakers Easton and Young garnered huge acclaim for Since Yesterday, their film about Scotland’s lost girl bands which premiered at Edinburgh International Film Festival. Eight years in the making and inspired by Easton’s own experience in all-woman band TeenCanteen, the duo created a vital document of hidden history. (NC)

13
Ashley Storrie 
Continuing to showcase an eclectic playlist of tunes and chat on her late-night BBC Radio Scotland show with sidekick Silent Paul, Storrie achieved mainstream recognition with BBC sitcom Dinosaur. She wrote and starred in the endearing comedy about an autistic Glaswegian, with the series winning two Scottish BAFTAs. (JR)

12
K Patrick 
The Isle Of Lewis-based writer cemented their reputation as a talent to watch, scooping the Best Rising Scottish Author prize at The List Festival Awards for the erotically charged novel Mrs S and poetry collection Three Births. The latter also won a spot on the Saltire Poetry Book Of The Year shortlist. (AR)

11
Corto.alto
While touring the world with a wildly talented ensemble, Liam Shortall’s masterfully produced, jazz-fusion, bangers-heavy debut album Bad With Names earned him both a Mercury Prize nomination and a spot on the SAY Award shortlist. (MM)

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