The Irish Times won six awards at the NewsBrands Journalism Awards 2019 including the News Website / News App of the Year.
The awards took place in the Mansion House in Dublin on Thursday. For The Irish Times, Hilary Fannin won Columnist (Broadsheet) of the Year, while Conor Gallagher took Broadsheet Features Writer, and Sally Hayden was named Foreign Coverage Journalist of the Year. Jack Power was named Young Journalist of the Year.
The Irish Times also won the Best Use of Video award for Enda O’Dowd and Simon Carswell’s production entitled ‘Schoolgirls on Brexit: The adults are not thinking straight’.
In the video, St Patrick's pupils in Crossmaglen, on the Border, explained Brexit to The Irish Times.
The awards were open to any work published in print, website, online, mobile, video, audio or any other news delivery format from any NewsBrands Ireland member title. The Irish Times received 32 nominations in the shortlists for awards – the highest number for a publication in this year’s competition.
The Irish Examiner won the Front Page of the Year for its coverage of the murder of journalist Lyra McKee in Derry.
The winner of the Headline of the Year went to the Irish Sun for “Fairytale of New Walk” which accompanied a story about former Pogues front man Shane MacGowan getting back on his feet after four years confined to a wheelchair.
Both the Campaigning Journalism and Investigative Journalism awards went to the Sunday Times for its investigation into the Football Association of Ireland and its former chief executive John Delaney, who has subsequently left the role.
Mark Tighe, who led the coverage of the FAI scandal, also won News Reporter of the Year, Scoop of the Year, and the overall Journalist of the Year.
The Political Story of the Year went to Peter O’Dwyer of The Times, Ireland Edition, for his story about then minister for communication Denis Naughten’s New York dinner with the head of Granahan McCourt, which is the last remaining bidder for the National Broadband Plan.
Other winners included Fearghal O’Connor of the Sunday Independent for Business Story of the Year; Michael O’ Farrell of the Irish Daily Mail for Business Journalist of the Year; and Larissa Nolan of the Irish Mirror for Popular Columnist of the Year.
Elsewhere, the Broadsheet Sports Writer of the Year was Cathal Dennehy of the Irish Examiner and the Irish Independent, while Roy Curtis from the Herald and the Sunday World was named the Popular Sports Writer of the Year.
The Crime Journalist of the Year award went to Nicola Tallant of the Sunday World, while Liam Fay from the Sunday Times won the Critic of the Year award. The Popular Features award went to Catherine Fegan from the Irish Daily Mail.
The Floating Voter on independent.ie won Podcast of the Year, while Kevin Doyle took the Political Journalist of the Year award for Independent News and Media.
Eddie Rowley of the Sunday World was named Showbiz Journalist of the Year, while the winner of the Showbiz Story of the Year was Barry Moran of the Irish Sun.
Mr Moran’s winning contribution was a story about model Nadia Forde being paid to dance with former FAI chief John Delaney in a charity Strictly Come Dancing event.
The Lifetime Achievement award was bestowed on Paddy Clancy, who has held positions in Irish and British national papers and radio.
He was the bureau chief for the Irish Sun at its inception in Ireland, and went on to become a regular columnist for that paper and the Irish Mirror more recently.
He crossed what was regarded as the most dangerous 100 kilometres in Africa when Mary Robinson was the first Western head of state to enter war-ravaged Somalia. He also reported from Derry during Bloody Sunday in 1972.
Mr Clancy is also remembered as the presenter who brought his own distinctive style to RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland slot, What It Says In The Papers, for almost three decades.
