Southern Star is shortlisted for newspaper awards

THE Southern Star has been shortlisted in two categories in the Local Ireland media awards, including Feature Story of the Year for news editor Siobhán Cronin’s two-part special on Cork Airport, and Best Use of Photography, for a front page on the Baltimore drowning tragedy.

Local Ireland, representing 44 local weekly newspapers in the Republic of Ireland, launched the awards last January and invited all member titles to submit entries published during the period January 2015 to January 2016.

The organisers and judges were overwhelmed by the hundreds of entries received in the 10 categories and also by the quality of the submissions, said Johnny O’Hanlon, director, Local Ireland.

The 10 categories included: News Story of the Year; Sports Story of the Year; Feature Story of the Year; Photograph of the Year; Best Use of Photography; Best Designed Newspaper; Best Advertising Campaign; Best Local Advertisement; Best Digital Content, and the Hall of Fame Award. The awards presentation will take place in Tullamore on Thursday May 19th when the winners in each category will be announced.

The judging panel consisted of Professor John Horgan, former Press Ombudsman (chair); Eugene McGee, former managing editor, Longford Leader and GAA columnist, Irish Independent; Tom Lawlor, photographer, formerly Irish Times; Andrew Sinclair, deputy managing director, OMD and Maeve Kneafsey, CEO, Elucidate.

Commenting on the success of the inaugural media awards, David Burke, president, Local Ireland and managing editor, Tuam Herald, said ‘These awards are a recognition of the many talents that combine to produce our titles in both print and digital format every week. We have outstanding journalists, photographers, designers and advertising executives the length and breadth of the country and it is appropriate that their contributions to our industry are recognised.’