National Lottery show their backing for local media
THE National Lottery has announced its continued sponsored of the Local Ireland Media Awards for the next two years.
The Awards honour the talents of the hundreds of journalists, photographers, designers and advertising executives involved in producing local weekly titles, both print and digital.
Local Ireland is the voice and representative association for 45 local weekly titles across the country, offering local news to 1.5 million readers each week outside Dublin and Cork.
The Awards, now in their fourth year, will feature 13 categories spanning all areas and disciplines of modern journalism including news, sport, features, advertising, design and online.
This year there will be a special National Lottery category for the journalist or newspaper that has given the best coverage to a community issue.
The 2019 judging panel will be chaired by Kate Shanahan, Head of Journalism and Senior Lecturer at TU Dublin.
The Awards dinner takes place in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Athlone, Co. Westmeath, on Thursday May 23rd 2019.
Commenting on the launch of this year’s Local Ireland Media Awards, Frank Mulrennan, President, Local Ireland, said: “The high level of entries over the last three years – averaging three hundred and eighty a year – is a powerful indicator of the vitality and importance of this section of Irish media.”
Dermot Griffin, Chief Executive of the National Lottery, said: “Like local newspapers we are also embedded in communities all over Ireland with almost 6,000 retailers selling National lottery products. “
‘Almost 30 cent in every Euro spent on our games goes back in the areas of health, sport, arts, culture, heritage, youth, community and the Irish language. Last year alone, more than €27 million was raised – the equivalent of €620,000 a day.”
The overall Journalist of the Year winner will be chosen by the judging panel from among the individual category winners.