Tag Archives: Local Ireland

THE Clare Champion has received a total of four nominations in the 9th Local Ireland Media Awards. The hotly contested awards showcase excellence in journalism and the achievements of Ireland’s local news publishers and their staff. The ‘Champion has been nominated across a range of categories with the winners set to be announced at a gala event this September. Dan Danaher has been shortlisted in the ‘Best News Series’ category for his highlighting of the impact UHL overcrowding has had on patients. Photographer John Kelly has been nominated for a gong in the ‘Best Photograph’ category for his image titled ‘Back Down from the Big Schmoke’. In the ‘National Lottery Best Community Journalist’ Jessica Quinn is nominated for her story ‘Knitting the World Back Together’ outlining the efforts of a group of local volunteers to raise money for charity while also helping divert unwanted knitted goods from landfill. While Fiona McGarry’s story on the local Pyrite campaign’s success after a …

Local Ireland, the association representing 32 weekly paid-for newspapers around the country, has welcomed today’s decision by the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe to remove VAT on newspapers. President of Local Ireland Declan McGuire said: “This is a very important move for news publishers. “Zero per cent VAT will allow local newspapers around Ireland to invest in journalism and in the transition to new digital business models. “News publishers have faced a series of major challenges over recent years, most recently the huge increases in the cost of newsprint. This move will help support jobs in the industry and sustain the quality of our service to readers. “We very much appreciate this endorsement by Government for the valuable role we play in our communities and the public service content we provide. “I would like to thank the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and all the Ministers, TDs and Senators from across the political spectrum who have …

TWO Clare Champion journalists were winners at the Local Ireland media awards last week, Jessica Quinn winning the best news story category and Carol Byrne taking the National Lottery Best Community story award. The awards ceremony took place at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Athlone last Thursday night and was hosted by RTÉ personality and Clareman Marty Morrissey. The awards were open to all 43 member titles of Local Ireland and their staff and it attracted hundreds of entries across the country. Cork newspaper The Southern Star was the only other newspaper to win two awards on the night. Jessica’s award came for a story on the proposed Supermacs development close to Clarecastle, which appeared in August of last year headlined ‘Bogus letters shocking’. In the story, Anne Marie Russell told The Clare Champion that she had received a letter in the post from Clare County Council addressed to her father, with a receipt for €20 paid for a planning …

THE Clare Champion has been shortlisted in seven Local Ireland Media Awards categories, the highest of any regional newspaper in the country. The next highest are The Connacht Tribune and Connaught Telegraph both shortlisted in four categories. The Local Ireland National Lottery Media Awards recognises regional newspapers, which are producing quality journalism and innovative content, showcasing to the public that local news matters, and should be supported. Out of 12 categories The Clare Champion is up for awards in seven, with entries shortlisted for News Story of the Year; Sports Story of the Year; Best News Series of the Year; Best Supplement of the Year; Photographer of the Year; Best Digital Content; and National Lottery Best Community Story. This is the fourth year of the National Lottery Annual Media Awards, and marks the first time that The Clare Champion has been shortlisted in seven categories. Editor Peter O’Connell said, “This is a great achievement for our newsroom, production staff and …

The Clare Champion newspaper has for the first time received three nominations at the annual Local Ireland Media Awards. For the third successive year, Clare Champion journalist Peter O’Connell has been nominated for a Local Ireland Award. This year he is shortlisted for the second time in the Best Sports Story of the Year for an interview with Cooraclare’s Tom Morrissey. In the article Tom reflects on his life and times 25 years after he helped Clare win the 1992 Munster Senior Football Championship. Multi-award winning Clare Champion photographer John Kelly was also nominated this year for Photograph of the Year for an image taken of Meelick man Robin O’Connell. The Clare Champion has also been nominated in the Best Designed Newspaper of the Year category. The awards will be held on Thursday May 24 at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Athlone where the winners will be announced.  

THE Clare Champion has scooped another award at the Local Ireland Media Awards, as reporter Dan Danaher’s series focusing on the EPA took the news series prize. This is the second award for The Clare Champion in the two year history of the Local Ireland Media Awards, as last year the regional newspaper took the prize for best feature article. Also nominated for an award was ‘Clare Champion reporter Peter O’Connell for his news story, Death by Geography. Over a 10 week period, Dan Danaher’s award winning news series examined the environmental compliance of 17 local companies who deal with various different types of chemicals and hazardous waste. Of those that were featured in The Clare Champion/Mary Raftery Special Investigation, 15 companies were initially granted Integrated Pollution and Prevention Control (IPPC) licences. The two exceptions were Enva and Clean Ireland Recycling Limited, who have waste licences. The main function of these licences is to ensure that companies, who are handling …

TWO Clare Champion reporters have been selected as finalists in this year’s Local Ireland Media Awards. Peter O’Connell has been selected as a finalist for the second year running, this time in the news category, for his story, Death by Geography, while Dan Danaher has been shortlisted for his news series focusing on the EPA. This is the second year of the awards. Last year, The Clare Champion was also shortlisted in two categories and went on to win the prize for Feature Story of the Year. The awards event is organised by Local Ireland, which is the promotional brand of the Regional Newspapers and Printers Association of Ireland (RNPAI). The group represents 35 companies across the country, including newspaper titles and printing companies. In his selected entry, Peter O’Connell revealed that the Shannondoc service in Kilrush, Ennistymon and Killaloe was to be drastically slashed. Residents throughout West Clare, particularly the remote villages of Carrigaholt, Cross and Kilbaha, expressed concern …

MOYHILL Community Garden finished second in the Sustainable Community section of the 2015 Get Involved Community Award presentation ceremony, which was held in Dublin last week. Now in its third year, the Local Ireland Get Involved Sustainable Communities awards initiative is promoted by 51 weekly paid-for newspapers and this year’s initiative featured 30 projects from all over Ireland. The projects cover the essential areas necessary to build sustainable communities, including clean energy, water conservation, local food production, eco-tourism and developing local community employment. The North Clare-based group was also highly commended in the Community Impact section. In their presentation, the group told the gathering at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Blanchardstown that they had visited Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in the UK in an effort to establish their own one. Green Party General Election candidate, Fergal Smith heads up the Moyhill group and he told The Clare Champion that reaching the national final was a positive experience for them. “Local …