UCD Smurfit School Awards honour Ireland’s best business journalists
Posted 12 December 2023
Ireland’s leading business journalists were recognised at the 16th annual (opens in a new window)UCD Smurfit School Business Journalist Awards.
A celebration of the best in Irish business journalism, this year’s awards included winners across seven categories working in print, broadcasting, and digital media.
“We are proud to recognise the best of Irish business journalism in the 16th annual Business Journalist Awards. Irish business journalists' work enriches the public’s understanding of critical issues of the day and how they impact business and society,” said (opens in a new window)Professor Federica Pazzaglia, Director of UCD Smurfit School and Associate Dean of UCD College of Business.
The recipients of the 2023 awards are:
Business News Story of the Year
Fionnan Sheahan & Melanie Finn, The Irish Independent - 'Crisis at RTE - investigation into financial payments & corporate governance'.
Audio Story of the Year
Mark Tighe, Ellen Coyne, Garrett Mulhall, Tabitha Monahan and John Smith, The Sunday Independent - 'Money for Jam - what John Delaney did next'.
Business Feature of the Year
Brian Carey, The Sunday Times Ireland - 'The Clonbio Story on Mark Turley'.
Business Analyst of the Year
Niall Sargent, Noteworthy (currently with The Currency) - 'Heads must roll: Industry and experts argue energy crisis is of ‘our own making' and 'Drilling for Data: Growing energy needs fuelling rise in data centre emissions'.
Business Interview of the Year
Linda Daly, The Sunday Times Ireland - 'Ballymore is out of the traps with its sights trained on home'.
Women in Business Journalism Award
Amy Molloy, Mediahuis Ireland - 'Fraudster sister lodged money in DJ Carey account' and 'Convicted fraudster Catriona Carey - who is accused of being involved in a mortgage scam - loses family home after defaulting on payments for 10 years'.
Upcoming Journalist of the Year
Donal McNamee, The Business Post - 'Intel offers workers thousands of euro to take extended leave', 'Building watchdog claims country faces ‘national emergency’ over regulation', and 'Big Read: Inside Twitter’s crumbling and disconnected Irish base'.
In addition to these seven categories, an Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to Colm Keena of the Irish Times for his contribution to journalism.
Colm played a significant role in the downfall of a Taoiseach, was responsible for the creation of a separate investigation module in a tribunal of inquiry, and most importantly, helped to enshrine in Irish law the right of journalists to protect their sources.
He is also a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) – a collaboration of more than 140 media outlets around the world that has uncovered vast amounts of corporate and political wrongdoing through the publication of the Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers, and most recently, Cyprus Confidential.
Each winner of each category is awarded a €1,000 prize.
Sponsored by the Bank of Ireland, and run in conjunction with the Business Journalists Association of Ireland, the UCD Smurfit School Business Journalist Awards are adjudicated by an independent panel of judges composed of business, media and academic leaders.
“The role of journalists has never been so crucial and the importance of good journalism, including robust fact-checking and critical thinking, has never been clearer,” said Gavin Kelly, CEO, Commercial and Commercial Banking, Bank of Ireland.
“That’s the value that we, as a society, get from an independent and objective media. These awards celebrate Irish business journalists who deliver reporting of the highest standard and I extend my congratulations to today’s winners and nominees.”
By: David Kearns, Digital Journalist / Media Officer, UCD University Relations (with materials from Beth Gormley, UCD College of Business)
To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie
