Lyra McKee, the young Northern Ireland journalist fatally shot during rioting in Derry last year, has been posthumously awarded a masters degree by an English university.
McKee's sister, Nichola Corner, and brother-in-law, John Corner, accepted the award of a Master of Arts degree in online journalism from Birmingham City University at a ceremony in the city's Symphony Hall on Tuesday.
Introducing the award, the university’s vice-chancellor, Philip Plowden, said McKee’s work was an inspiration and he expressed pride that she had been part of the university.
“Lyra was 29 when she was killed. She was an outstanding young journalist whose books Angels with Blue Faces was about to be published. She wrote about the consequences of the Troubles, a world in which she had grown up,” Prof Plowden said.
He continued: “There are no positives to be drawn from her death. We are all the poorer for it. But it reminds us why we need great journalists; we need those who can uncover truths and open our eyes to things we may have chosen not to notice.”
Prof Plowden said the Belfast-born editor and writer had provided a powerful example of each person’s individual ability to work to change the world around them.
He noted she was the winner of the Sky News Young Journalist Award in 2006 at the age of 16 and had gone on to forge a reputation as an inspiring and tenacious investigative reporter.
Ms McKee, who studied for a distance learning master’s degree at Birmingham City University between 2012 and 2014 but never formally graduated from the college, was described by her former lecturer, Professor Paul Bradshaw as “a very special student, a very special writer and an inspiration to many”.
She returned to the university in 2017 to address a conference on the subject of class bias in journalism.
“Lyra’s path to studying journalism at Birmingham City University was, like her, special. The tenacity and creativity that took her to BCU continued throughout her work here and on into the successes that led to her pausing her studies,” Prof Bradshaw said.
He said it was important that her achievements were recognised by the university which was why she was receiving the posthumous award.
Accepting the award, Ms Corner said Lyra had worked tirelessly to help others not just through journalism but around a wide range of causes in Belfast and beyond.
“She made friendships in all walks of life and it was the same attention to people that drove her to succeed in her writing,” she added. Ms Corner said her family felt honoured and privileged that her late sister was being conferred with such an honour by the university.