LOCAL Ireland, the association representing local news publishers across the country, has launched its annual awards.
Entries are being sought across 17 categories with an additional category for lifetime achievement being nominated by the Local Ireland executive.
This will be the ninth edition of the awards and the seventh to be sponsored by the National Lottery, who have their own special category for best community story.
President of Local Ireland and head of Irish Times Regionals Dan Linehan said the awards are a chance to recognise and highlight the role of local publishers in their communities and showcase the best of local journalism.
‘The National Lottery are ideal partners for the awards as a national brand and one that supports almost every community in Ireland,’ he said.
Chair of the judges, author and broadcaster Alison O’Connor, originally from Bantry, said: ‘It is an honour to chair the judging panel for the Local Ireland Media Awards.
‘The awards are all about recognising the very best of the work done in the newsrooms of regional newspapers across the country. The quality shines though in the many entries submitted.’
This year’s awards will include three new categories of awards. They are: best headline, best diversity journalism and best sustainability journalism.
Executive director of Local Ireland Bob Hughes welcomed the judging panel, novelist and newspaper columnist Dr Martina Devlin, award-winning journalist and policy editor of the Business Post Daniel Murray and deputy night editor of the Irish Sun Gerry McCarthy.
The judging panel also includes broadcaster and journalist Dearbhail McDonald, emeritus professor at TUD Michael Foley, Dawn Wheatley of DCU School of Communications, managing director of Kinetic Ireland Andrew Sinclair, photographer and former Irish Times picture editor Frank Miller, broadcaster and writer Valerie Cox, and journalist and author PJ Cunningham.
Entries for the awards close on June 28th with nominations announced early August.
Winners will be declared at a gala event at Mullingar Park Hotel on Thursday September 19th hosted by Lyric FM presenter and Marty Whelan.
