THE search is on for the best local journalism in Ireland with the launch of the eleventh Local Ireland Media Awards, Entries are being invited for 19 categories, including awards for photography, design, digital innovation and sales.

The awards will be the ninth to be sponsored by the National Lottery, which has its own award for Community Journalist of the Year.

Assistant Professor at DCU School of Communications Dawn Wheatley will take over the chair of the judging panel this year.

The panel includes two new members, journal.ie managing editor Susan Daly and RTÉ presenter and journalist Sarah McInerney.

President of Local Ireland Seán Mahon, managing director of The Southern Star, said: ‘The Local Ireland Media Awards recognise the very best of local journalism, digital publishing, and advertising across Ireland. It’s important to celebrate what our industry is all about, namely telling the stories that matter to local people.

‘These awards are a great showcase for local journalism and I hope they encourage new people to enter our profession as well as reinforce for our people that what they do is so important to society.’

Thanking the National Lottery for their ongoing sponsorship he added: ‘There’s a good synergy between the support the National Lottery gives to local communities across Ireland who are often the same communities that our newspapers report on.

‘I’d also like to thank Coimisiún Na Meán for their sponsorship of the awards and their ongoing support for the local newspaper industry overall.’

This year’s awards will be held at the Mullingar Park Hotel on September 17th with RTÉ Lyric FM presenter Marty Whelan as host.

Head of corporate affairs at the National Lottery, Jennifer Crowe, said: ‘We are immensely proud to continue our long-standing partnership with Local Ireland in celebrating the outstanding journalism that keeps our communities informed, connected and heard.

‘Local journalism plays a central role in communities, capturing the stories, challenges and triumphs that might otherwise go untold.’

Media development commissioner at Coimisiún na Meán Rónán O’Domhnaill said: ‘We are committed to supporting access to high quality journalism and recognise the value of trustworthy local news for communities across the country.

‘Our journalism schemes continue to provide funding support to Local Ireland members, with the second round of our news reporting scheme due to close on June 5th. We are proud to sponsor this year’s Awards and wish all participants the best of luck.’

Chair of the judging panel, Dawn Wheatley, said the standard in previous years was high and she was hoping for ‘another year of outstanding entries’.

‘The cities, towns and villages around Ireland need strong local journalism,’ she added.

‘These awards are our way of recognising the talented reporters, editors and production staff who work hard to deliver that each week.’

The judging panel also includes RTÉ’s Katie Hannon, Emeritus Professor at TUD Michael Foley, managing director of Kinetic Ireland Andrew Sinclair, photographer and former Irish Times picture editor Frank Miller, broadcaster and writer Valerie Cox, journalist and author PJ Cunningham, novelist and columnist Dr Martina Devlin, DCU lecturer and former journalist Conor Tiernan, Business Post policy editor Daniel Murray and Irish Sun deputy night editor Gerry McCarthy.

Entries will close on Tuesday June 30th and the shortlist of nominations will be announced at the beginning of August.