Mayo students scoop UL journalism prizes

JOURNALISM AWARD From left: are, Audrey Galvin, UL, Dr Fergal Quinn, Head of Journalism, UL; Diane McDermott, Irish Examiner and Shane McNamara, from Achill, UL winner of the Irish Examiner Video Award. Pic: Alan Place

Cory Kilbane

Shane McNamara, a masters student in journalism from Achill, and Cillian Sherlock, a journalism student from Claremorris, have each won separate journalism competitions at the University of Limerick (UL).
Shane McNamara won the inaugural University of Limerick Irish Examiner Video Journalism prize for a multimedia piece entitled ‘Rescue 116: The people behind the recovery’, which was broadcast on IrishExaminer.ie. The piece focused on those involved in the efforts to recover the bodies of the crew of Coast Guard Helicopter Rescue 116, which crashed in March.
“Obviously it was such a huge story with regards to national and even international news, but when a story is covered so extensively people can lose sight of the human aspect of what was truly a tragedy,” explained Shane, who did work experience in The Mayo News during his transtion year.
“Like so many people in Mayo, I have family and friends involved with the rescue services, and it really hits home and makes you take notice when it’s rescuers being rescued,” he added, saying it was a privilege ‘to be able to document these ordinary people who continue to make extraordinary sacrifices, especially after such a tragedy’.  Editorial Manager at The Irish Examiner Diane McDermott presented the cheque to Mr McNamara in UL this week. Shane’s work stood out, she said, due to its attention to detail, coming top of a strong field of entrants.
Dr Fergal Quinn, Head of Journalism at University of Limerick, also congratulated Mr McNamara on the win: “Shane is a very talented young journalist, and he produced what I thought was a very insightful and sensitive piece about what drives the extraordinary voluntary effort to recover the bodies of those lost at sea,” he said.
Meanwhile, Cillian Sherlock took the top prize in the UL/Live 95FM Broadcast Journalism Competition. His winning entry was a radio package dealing with the issue of drug driving.
“I’m delighted to receive this award from Live 95FM,” Cillian said. “It’s a fantastic way to finish up my degree in journalism and new media at UL.”
As the winner, Cillian received €500. He is currently working at Independent.ie on a Google fellowship.


RADIO AWARD Cillian Sherlock from Claremorris was winner of the Live 95FM Radio Award. Pic: Alan Place