EAT Balanced, the healthy pizza maker supported by the Evening Times has scooped one of the top prizes in the 2013 Local Business Accelerators.

The Glasgow company, formed by Donnie Maclean and his partner Katie Sillars, has won the LBA Scotland prize, seeing off strong competition promoted by local papers throughout Scotland.

The final phase of the nation-wide competition, which offered prizes of mentoring and free advertising and was designed to show the positive impact that local papers can have on business, was judged in the final stages by Dragons' Den star Deborah Meaden. The overall UK prize went to York chocolatiers the York Cocoa House.

Donnie, who originally devised Eat Balanced's healthy pizzas in collaboration with leading nutritionists as part of his own sports training regime, praised the LBA competition and its impact on the profile of his start-up business.

"We saw a real uplift after our adverts appeared in the Evening Times," he said. "The exposure has been great for our profile and our mentors have been so good."

Laura Gordon, of the Institute of Directors Scotland, was one of the three leading Scottish business figures who mentored and selected Eat Balance from a high quality Evening Times shortlist.

She said: "I am so proud of the young Eat Balanced team in ­winning this award."

Fellow judges Les Meikle, of Wise Property, and former Microsoft Scotland boss Raymond O'Hare also added their congratulations to ­Donnie and Katie.

TV Dragon Deborah said: "I am thrilled to have been involved in the campaign. Once again, hundreds of fledgling businesses have witnessed first-hand the benefits of local advertising thanks to the Local Business Accelerators scheme."

Prime Minister David Cameron, who has supported the competition as a means of boosting business activity throughout the UK, said: "The LBA campaign has been a huge success and its support for small businesses and entrepreneurs is making a real difference to local economies.

"I continue to be ­impressed by the range of strong, growing businesses the scheme is helping, which is in no small part down to the crucial role of the newspapers taking part."