Mail writers win three coveted Newsbrands awards for journalism
IRISH Mail on Sunday journalists won three categories at the Newsbrands Ireland Journalism Awards 2023 – proving your favourite newspaper continues to lead the agenda in news, features and with the best opinion writers.
At a ceremony in Dublin’s Mansion House this week, Investigations Editor Michael O’Farrell won the prestigious award for Campaigning Journalism for his coverage of how successive governments pursued a secret strategy to limit payouts to families illegally overcharged for nursing home fees.
The story, broken by this newspaper, led to the Government for the first time publishing guidelines for State conduct in litigation it is involved in.
Michael was also named Features Journalist of the Year (Popular) for two interviews with separate whistleblowers, and a young woman who has been failed by State inaction in looking into her historical sexual abuse case.
Mail on Sunday and Irish Daily Mail columnist Mary Carr was named Columnist of the Year (Popular), capping a memorable night for DMG Media group, which received no fewer than 18 nominations at this year’s awards.
Michael O’Farrell received five nominations in all, the other categories being Investigative Journalism, Business Journalist of the Year and Political Journalist of the Year.
Niamh Walsh was nominated for Campaigning Journalism and Showbiz Journalist of the Year, while John Lee, Mark Gallagher, Mary Carr and Shane McGrath were all nominated for Columnist of the Year (Popular). Mr Lee was also nominated for Political Journalist of the Year.
The Irish Daily Mail’s Maeve Quigley was nominated for Features Journalist of the Year, while Garreth MacNamee’s interview with the parents of Boy B – one of two teenagers convicted of the murder of Ana Kriégel – was shortlisted for Scoop of the Year.
In Sport, Philip Lanigan and Shane McGrath were nominated for Sportswriter of the Year, while DMG Media Ireland received a nomination for Digital Innovation of the Year for ExtraG.ie. DMG’s Business Plus magazine also picked up a nomination for Digital Innovation of the Year.
Irish Mail on Sunday editor Robert Cox said: ‘The breadth of nominations is testament to the hard work and dedication of our team of journalists, photographers and production staff, who are tireless in producing a top quality Sunday newspaper every Sunday.
‘The wins, as well-deserved as they are, are simply icing on the cake. These awards recognise the high-quality public-interest journalism our readers are already aware of.
‘Michael O’Farrell has a great track record in providing a voice for whistleblowers who have been sidelined or abused but still have information of vital importance. We as a paper pride ourselves in seeking out the truth and speaking it to power. And Michael’s work this year has been rightly recognised as hugely influential on a crucial topic.’
‘As for Mary Carr, her regular readers already know her writing is exceptional. She is a worthy Columnist of the Year. I congratulate them both on their awards.’
Paul Henderson, CEO of DMG Media, publisher of the Irish Mail on Sunday, added: ‘Now more than ever we all need career professional journalism. These awards are a celebration not only of the great work over the past year done by our newspapers and websites, but also for the profession of journalism.’