Examiner’s news videos get national award nomination
The Westmeath Examiner has been shortlisted in the Best Use of Digital category of the annual Local Ireland awards.
It is one of 14 nominations for four titles in the Celtic Media Group, which includes the Westmeath Examiner.
The Meath Chronicle received seven shortlistings, the Anglo-Celt four and Westmeath Independent two.
The Examiner was shortlisted for its Mobile Journalism Videos and faces competition for the overall award from its sister paper, Meath Chronicle and from the West Cork-based Southern Star.
21 in 21, an initiative which was the brainchild of Westmeath Examiner deputy editor Rodney Farry, and which involved celebrating the birthdays of those reaching 21 during the Covid-hit year of 2021, earned a nomination in the Innovation category for the Meath Chronicle.
The Westmeath Independent received two nominations in the Best Advertising Campaign category for advertising campaigns it ran with TUS Athlone and Build Warmth with Grant.
The Local Ireland Media Awards, sponsored by the National Lottery, celebrate excellence in local journalism and the regional news publishing industry.
President of Local Ireland Declan McGuire said: “We are delighted to have had more than 600 entries this year, which is a record.
“It reflects the huge popularity of the awards and the intense competition to get a nomination.
“We are grateful to the National Lottery for their continued support and I want to thank all our judges for their time in considering so many entries.” National Lottery CEO Andrew Algeo said: “At the National Lottery, we are so proud of our long-standing partnership with the Local Ireland Media Awards and we are especially looking forward to this year’s in-person event, which will allow us to celebrate the impact that local media has on the communities that they serve.
“We are pleased to host our very own category once again, the Best Community Story of the year, which will recognise community spirit and the impact of people working together to make a difference to their communities.”
The judging panel for the awards is chaired by entrepreneur and broadcaster Áine Kerr. She is joined by author and broadcaster Dearbhail McDonald, Emeritus Professor at TUD Michael Foley, Dawn Wheatley of DCU School of Communications, managing director of Kinetic Ireland Andrew Sinclair, photographer and former Irish Times picture editor Frank Miller, broadcaster and writer Valerie Cox, and journalist and author PJ Cunningham.
This year’s awards are at Bloomfield House Hotel, Mullingar on Thursday October 13. Guest MC will be celebrity sports commentator Marty Morrissey.