Four nominations for Star in media awards

THE Southern Star has received four nominations in this year’s Local Ireland Media Awards.

The prestigious awards, sponsored by the National Lottery, celebrate excellence in local journalism and the regional news publishing industry.

The Star has been nominated in the Best Local Ad category for an ad for Bantry and Skibbereen Tyre Centre.

The Star also received two nominations in the category  Best Use of Digital – one for our podcast series The Big Story and a second for our Olympics sports podcast.

Finally, the fourth nomination was for Best Advertising Campaign for a series of ads for Kerr’s Bookshop. President of Local Ireland Declan McGuire said: ‘We are delighted to have had more than 600 entries this year, which is a record.

‘It reflects the huge popularity of the awards and the intense competition to get a nomination.’

This year’s awards will be held at the Bloomfield House Hotel in Mullingar on Thursday October 13th.

Guest master of ceremonies will be celebrity sports commentator Marty Morrissey.

Meanwhile, a pre-Budget briefing in Leinster House held by NewsBrands Ireland and Local Ireland was attended by almost 50 TDs and senators this week.

In a joint presentation, the representative groups for national and regional newspapers set out the challenges being faced by the industry and called for Vat on newspapers and digital subscriptions to be eliminated to 0% in the forthcoming Budget.

At 9%, Ireland has one of the highest Vat rates on newspapers and digital subscriptions in Europe.

A total of 22 European countries including Denmark, the UK, Belgium, Norway, Austria and France, have lower rates of Vat on newspapers, as well as providing other direct and indirect supports for journalism. The elimination of Vat would aid the industry in investing in its future.