Better than all the rest
The Mayo News outperforms all other Irish newspapers in commitment to good design
The Mayo News has cemented its reputation for excellence in design with the news that we have won four European Newspaper Design Awards.
While three other newspapers from Ireland, The Irish Examiner, The Sligo Weekender and The Argus also collected awards, The Mayo News won in four categories.
We collected prizes for our front page; the front pages of our Local Notes and Living sections - only one other local paper in Europe was deemed good enough for an award in this category; our interview spread with Westport icon Mick Lavelle; and our Election Supplement.
This is the fourth year in a row that we’ve won, and it brings to 14 the number of awards we’ve won since 1999, with ten of those coming in the past four years.
A total of 241 newspapers from 27 countries participated in the eleventh European Newspaper Awards, a prestigious recognition programme established to support the exchange of ideas and present new and creative solutions in the field of newspaper design and concept. The overall winners came from Sweden, Germany, Portugal and Croatia. All of these newspapers are smaller than the traditional Irish broadsheet, a fact not lost on the jury which consisted of 15 of the leading newspaper designers, editors and lecturers in journalism in Europe.
The jury also noted the trend towards ‘discovering the visual even more strongly’. They noted the increase in entries in the photography, illustration and infographics categories, and introduced a new category – Visual Storytelling. They pointed out that ‘in many countries, the pure news pages are markedly affected visually and less text-laden than earlier’.
Commenting on the awards, a proud Fergus Kelly, head of The Mayo News design team said: “Last year I said that it was a credit to the design, production and editorial teams to again produce the best performance of any Irish local newspaper. It’s great to say now that we’re now the best-designed Irish newspaper, with no caveat – despite the recession and its inevitable impact.
“I hope that our commitment to quality and continual development is liked by our readers – the design of the paper is always, ultimately, for them. I hope that that we can build on this success and produce the best newspaper we can in difficult economic circumstances.
“I’d like to personally thank the Berry family for their support and vision in encouraging us to make the best paper we can. Without their commitment to carrying on the great tradition started by Joe, we’d not be in the position we are now,” he said.
Editor of The Mayo News, Michael Duffy, said all the staff were once again delighted to be leading the way for Irish newspapers on the European stage.
“To win four awards again this year is a fantastic achievement for everyone involved with the newspaper. I think the key to our continual success is the close working relationship that exists between the editorial and production department. Our journalists are always willing to swap ideas and discuss in depth with the production staff how a page should look. Naturally, we do bow to their superior knowledge of the intricacies of page layout and design but they are willing to make us part of the process.
“Great credit is due to both our Production Manager, Padraic Geraghty and to the head of IT and Design, Fergus Kelly for their continued commitment to progress.”
The festive presentation of prizes will be held at the ‘European Newspaper Congress 2009’ in Vienna from April 25 to 27 next year, where trends in the newspaper world will also be presented and discussed.
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