There was two strong Laois links as the editorial team behind the University of Limerick’s newspaper The Limerick Voice claimed the top prize at the National Student Media Awards in Dublin on Thursday.
Rosenallis girl and LaoisToday reporter Siun Lennon and Camross native Elaine Holmes were a key part of the winning entry.
Siun, who is a final year Journalism student in UL, was News Editor for the publication, which claimed the Newspaper of the Year award for the first time while Elaine was one of the news reporters.
The awards were held in the corporate section of the Aviva Stadium and presented by Mark Hennessy from The Irish Times.
“I’m absolutely honoured to be a part of the winning team of Newspaper of the Year at the SMedia awards,” said Siun.
“We were shocked to get the award as the calibre of nominees was so high this year and every year.
“A lot of credit goes to the whole team behind the scenes of the newspaper including our lecturers. I’m thrilled to be a part of something like this.”
A past student of Derrylamogue NS and Mountrath CS, Siun has worked for LaoisToday since last summer both during the college holidays and weekends. Currently preparing for her final exams, she will join the team in LaoisToday again in May. Elaine is also a past pupil of Mountrath CS and went to primary school in Camross. She did her work placement from UL in the Limerick Leader.
The Editor of the Year award went to Shauna Bowers of Dublin City University, while the Magazine of the Year award was won by Dublin Institute of Technology’s Cypher.
The Journalist of the Year award in the National Media category was won by Aaron Gallagher of DCU, while the Features Writer of the Year – News & Current Affairs award went to Rachel O’Neill of University College Dublin.
The Radio Journalist of the Year award was won by Mary-Kate Findon of DIT; Mark Boylan of the University of Limerick took the Sports Writer of the Year category.
The Website of the Year went to UCC Express of University College Cork, while Trinity College took design and layout awards in the newspaper and magazine categories for TN2 Magazine and the Trinity News.
