The Clare Champion has been named winner of a national award in recognition of the newspaper’s coverage of water safety issues.
This week Irish Water Safety presented The Clare Champion with a Media Appreciation Award at the annual awards ceremony in Dublin Castle.
The award is presented to those who have excelled in media coverage that brings awareness of water safety to the public above and beyond others.
Managing director of The Clare Champion John Galvin received the award on behalf of the newspaper.
He commented, “We are delighted to receive this award. As Clare is a coastal county, water safety should be of vital consideration and be taught at an early age. We at The Clare Champion want to do our part to ensure that everyone is aware of the importance of water safety.”
Roger Sweeney, marketing manager and deputy CEO at Irish Water Safety, stated, “It’s thanks to The Clare Champion that more people are more aware of how to stay safe around water. In the 1980s, we averaged 207 drownings a year. That has slowly, but thankfully, come down to an average of 133 over the past 10 years. That figure would be higher if not for people like those working in The Clare Champion, who are working to promote water safety.”
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.