The Irish Times was the big winner at this year’s NewsBrands Ireland Journalism Awards with the Tara Street publisher bagging seven awards, including the coveted Journalist of the Year award which went to Rosita Boland for her coverage of the Ann Lovett case.
The other Irish Times winners were Mark Paul and Colm Keena (Business Story of the Year); Fintan O’Toole (Columnist/Broadsheet); Fiach Kelly (Political Journalist); Conor Lally (Features) and Sally Hayden (Foreign Coverage).
Journalists at Independent News & Media, meanwhile, picked up six awards at the ceremony which was held in the Mansion House, Dublin. The Campaigning Journalist of the Year Award went to Charlie Weston for his coverage of the tracker mortgage scandal; Sports Journalist of the Year was once again awarded to Vincent Hogan who also picked up the award for Sports Story of the Year while Independent.ie reporter Amy Molloy was awarded Young Journalist of the Year for putting the spotlight on slum landlords. Elsewhere, Sunday Independent reporters Maeve Sheehan, Mark O’Regan and Wayne O’Connor were awarded with the Investigation Journalism prize for their investigation of nursing homes and the fees charged while their colleague Barry Egan won Showbiz Journalist of the Year.
Elsewhere, other awards on the day went to Tom Lyons of the Sunday Business Post while the Irish Farmers Journal picked up the award for Digital Experience. In addition Philip Nolan picked up the Columnist of the Year (Popular) while Times Ireland journalists Mark Tighe, Jennifer O’Brien, Catherine Sanz and Ellen Coyne picked up three awards between them. A full list of winners is below.
Addressing the Journalism Awards, NewsBrands Ireland Chairman, Vincent Crowley, described newspapers as the “voice of the people, their communities and their regions. We rely on the journalists in this room to tell us what is happening in the world – and why.”
He went on to say: “Good journalism is under threat: censorship, economic pressures, job insecurity and a lack of political will to assist in meeting these challenges, is resulting in an uncertain future for Irish journalism.”
He also highlighted the NewsBrands Ireland initiative Journalism Matters which saw the country’s newspapers, local and national, unite to highlight the vital role the press plays in a vibrant democracy and call on the Government to support measures to ensure the industry’s survival.
Journalism Awards 2018 winners
- Business Journalist – Tom Lyons, The Sunday Business Post
- Business Story – Mark Paul & Colm Keena, The Irish Times
- Campaigning Journalism – Irish Independent Tracker Mortgage coverage (Charlie Weston)
- Columnist (Broadsheet) – Fintan O’ Toole, The Irish Times
- Columnist (Popular) – Philip Nolan, Irish Daily Mail
- Critic – Richard Pine, The Sunday Times
- Crime Story – Michael O’ Toole, Irish Daily Star
- Crime Journalist – Stephen Breen, The Irish Sun
- Digital Excellence – Irish Farmers Journal
- Features (Broadsheet) – Conor Lally, The Irish Times
- Features ( Popular) – Aoife Finneran, The Irish Sun
- Foreign Coverage – Sally Hayden, The Irish Times
- Front Page – Irish Daily Mail ( I Found Out Today I’m Dying)
- Headline – Irish Daily Star (Chilly Wrong Kearney)
- Investigative Journalism –Sunday Independent Investigative Team ( Maeve Sheehan, Wayne O’ Connor, Mark O’ Regan)
- News Analysis – Susan Mitchell, The Sunday Business Post
- News Reporter – Mark Tighe, The Sunday Times
- Political Journalist – Fiach Kelly, The Irish Times
- Political Story – Ellen Coyne, The Times, Ireland Edition
- Scoop – Rosita Boland, The Irish Times
- Showbiz Story – Jennifer O’ Brien and Catherine Sanz, The Times, Ireland Edition
- Showbiz Journalist – Barry Egan, Sunday Independent
- Sports Story – Vincent Hogan, Irish Independent
- Sports Writer (Broadsheet) – Vincent Hogan, Irish Independent
- Sports Writer (Popular) – David Coughlan, Irish Daily Star
- Young Journalist of the Year – Amy Molloy, Independent.ie
- Journalist of the Year 2018 – Rosita Boland, The Irish Times
